That day, Armani was happy, for he was to get his new, shiny, phone. Armani was happy, and so were his parents. For his parents had worked very tediously to afford this new phone for their beloved child.

“You can only spend 300 Euros, O.K.?” Yelled his father, as Armani left the house.

As Armani approached the Pear Store, his heart began beating louder. With each step he took, the beating grew louder. The adrenaline rushed in, as he reached the store.

“Lub-Dub, Lub-Dub” said his heart

“Yes! Yes!” said his brain

“Gulp, swish, grrrrr” said his stomach

“Greeeee” said his gut

“Water” said his eyes

He entered the store, only to be greeted by a SmartDesk™ employee.

“Hello, and welcome to the Pear Corporation Limited stores, how can we help you. Our team is certified to make you happy, and satisfied.”

“I” Armani muttered, he did not like the atmosphere of the store. It was too bright, shiny, and colorful for anything that he had ever seen in his life. It gave him a sense of euphoria, that he hated.

“Need a phone” Armani continued

“I am glad to assist you, may I ask who your carrier is, please?”

“What is a carrier?”

“A carrier is a company that provides cellular data to your device, do you have a carrier?”

“I do not have a device, why would you ask me who my carrier is, if I came asking for a new device?”

“I apologize, sir, I have assumed that you already own a device, as everyone does these days. Well, may I know what type of phone you are interested in?”

“Types? What do you mean by types?”

“Well, we have many varieties of phones in stock. We have the iPear X, last year’s model. But just recently, we have released the iPear XR, and the even better model iPearXZ Ultimate Gold Edition. If you want, you could even wait for the new editions coming out this month, and the next.”

“Sweet baby Jesus, can you just get me something Goddamnit? No one has time for picking and choosing”

“Well sir, would you be interested in the iPear XZ Ultimate Gold Edition?”

“Yes, I am very much interested in that. And how much would that cost?”

“Let me see our pricing list, sir,” the SmartDesk™ employee leaves briefly to obtain a pricing list, and comes back and points at the price

“€10,000” Armani Read silently.

He could not believe himself, or his entire life. Did he come with €300, into a store that sells €10,000 iPears? What was he thinking?

“Mamma Mia” Armani screamed, the entire store’s conversation halted for a second. And then resumed.

“Uhhhh, sir? Are you alright?”

“No, I mean Yes, I mean…. Am I reading this correctly, €10,000?”

“Yes sir, you are.”

“Is there anything cheaper than that?”

“Yes, we have the iPear X last year’s model which costs only €5,000”

“Did you just say €5000?” Armani replied, disgusted.

“Why yes sir, it was the best model until the XR and the XZ Ultimate Gold edition came out”

“Can I get anything for €300?” Asked Armani

The entire store went silent.

Armani looked around at everyone and wondered why they stopped talking.

“Did I do something wrong?” Asked Armani,

“Sir, you asked for a ridiculous price, and our boss wants you to get out of our store immediately!” Replied the SmartDesk™ employee.

“Ridiculous price? You’re telling me 300 Euros is a ridiculous price? For something that displays light?”

“Sir, we would have to call the cops at this point. It is either you GET OUT IMMEDIATELY. Or things will turn very ugly.”

Surprised, Armani left the store immediately in order for him not to get caught with his heinous act.

“No!” He said to himself, “I’ve got to have a phone by the end of today.”

So he walked across the street from the Pear store, into a thrift shop.

“What phones do you have?”

“Well, we have the iPear 1st generation” replied the non SmartDesk™ store manager

“And how much would that set me back?”

“500 Euros”

“Sir, All I have is 300 Euros, can we do anything about this?”

“What’s your name son?”

“Armani, I dream of being an engineer when I complete my university studies. But please signior, I really need this phone.”

“And why do you really need this phone?”

“Well, sir. At school, everyone bullies me into having a new phone. I feel pressured the entire time to get a new phone because I keep on being made fun of.”

“Well Kid, a Phone won’t do you no good. Believe me, I have learned. I was born before in a time before phones kid, can you imagine that? And I am going to say that I did feel much more content with my life then than I do now. It is a sad life, the one I live now. I come to the shop, I sit down, and content myself with my phone until a customer comes in. This is not what life is supposed to be, kid. We were meant to be mobile, interactive, and active beings. Not docile koalas and sloths sitting down all day on our phones.”

“Yes sir, I do agree with you to a certain extent. But sir, wouldn’t you agree that if a friend pressures you to do something, you would be more inclined to do it?”

“Yes, my son, but not all friends are good friends. And not all friends are friends. Now, this may seem nonsensical to you my boy, but you will understand. I do remember when a traitor backstabbed me, it is a part of life. The other thing is, son, it was already hard to tell what people were thinking before phones were invented. Now it is even harder, you hide behind a veil, in this online, virtual, world. You cannot be traced easily, and you can be unknown to everyone. You can hide your true emotions with a LOL, or a crying and laughing face emoji. My son, it is important to not forget that we are dying with these phones.”

“I don’t care, uncle, I am getting a phone. How much would this phone set me back again?”

“500 Euros”

“Can we do special financing?”

The store manager stopped and thought. He did not know what to do or say to the kid…

“Come back tomorrow, I will have made up my mind”

And so, Armani returned to his regular daily schedule. He returned home and helped his parents with usual chores. He contemplated his decision to purchase a phone, but he kept on thinking it was a good decision. After he was done, he turned on the T.V. to his favorite channel

PBS 11

JFK’s LIFE AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS

The T.V. shouted, “As John Kennedy infamously stated during one of his famous speeches: ‘Two thousand years ago, the proudest boast was civis romanus sum "I am a Roman citizen". Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is "Ich bin ein Berliner!"... All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words "Ich bin ein Berliner!’ “

Armani thought, “What a great man. What a great manipulator, his words, truly precious.”

The next day, after school he returned to the shop owner.

“Hello uncle, I am back”

“I see kid, that you have returned. And I have made up my mind. I see that you are very determined to have this monstrosity, and well I shouldn’t stop you. In the end, I might lose some money, but I think it will be a valuable lesson for you to learn, firsthand, how this phone thing is in fact, very wicked.”

“I don’t care uncle, GIVE ME THE PHONE.”

“Calm down kid, treat me with respect. Or I raise the price. Just because you’re getting your little tappity, jiggly, thingy ma jiggly, doesn’t mean you’re the President of the United States. Calm down, hot stuff.”

“Fine, I apologise, what is the price?”

“300 Euros, and I am losing money here.”

Armani purchases the phone from the shop owner, and sprints back home. He quickly unwraps the box, and slides it open. There it is, in its glorious, shiny, and magnificent view. His new iPear phone. He quickly grabs it, and the charger. He shoves the adaptor into the round European socket, and quickly plugs in the connector into his port on the iPear.

A Battery pops up.

Suddenly, Armani is filled with ecstasy. He just has seen his phone function, he has touched, felt, and knew what it was like to have a glossy screen display light. He proceeds to switch on the phone by repeatedly plugging and unplugging the phone, as the instructions have said.

♪♫♬

The phone has finally turned on. The screen read

“Welcome to iPear. Light. Powerful. Innovative.”

Armani was very excited, to the point of an erection. His heart beat loudly, and steadily. He was calm, yet loud. Relieved, yet Panicked. Happy, yet…. sad. He felt as if he has lost something, at someplace at some time.

The next day at school, Armani enters the classroom. With a phone in his pocket. Causing the entire classroom to gasp with ultimate surprise.

“You? have a phone?” gasped Rick, his usual bully.

“Yes, Rick. Why yes, I do have a phone. What about you?”

“Take it out” replied Rick

“Ok, here it is” Armani slowly took out his phone, the entire class waited with anticipation.

“OH MY GOD, HE HAS THE ORIGINAL iPear. THE 1ST GEN, DO YOU KNOW HOW RARE THOSE ARE EVERYONE?” yelped someone in the class.

Everyone gathered around Armani, they were watching him tap endlessly on his phone, showcasing its antiquity. Everyone was very amused, gasping, shouting, crying, until the bell rang and the teacher came in.

During lunch, everyone gathered around him. The cool kid, Ryan came to him

“Hey, wanna hang out sometime after school?” Asked Ryan in his deep, scratched voice

“Sorry, I can’t”

The crowd gasped, surprised at the rejection that Ryan had received.

“W-D-Y-M you can’t? Don’t you have a phone now?”

“Yes, I do, but I cannot really hang out after school. My parents really need me.”

“Parents, S-M-H. Who needs parents Armani? They’re dumb as crap, and they just boss you around. Holding you tight, by the neck. Waiting to chop your head off whenever you do some’n wrong. Relax man, just chill with us. Gimme your number, and I’ll tell you where and when we meet. And we can chill, just me, and you, and our phones.”

“Ok”

*PING*

Later that night, Armani received the message that he was patiently waiting for, telling him to meet at 352 Philadelphia Ave.

.............................................................................

“Yo, wassup my guy?”

“Hi, nothing much. What about you?”

“I’m good, I’m good. You see my pals over here, we’re gonna do some fun stuff right now. Are you ready?”

“Yes!” Armani replied excitedly

“Pull up your phone, go to You-Tube, and look up DewDieRie. And click on the first video”

“And then what?”

“And then what? Well, obviously we watch the videos for a couple of hours together.”

“Really? I actually thought we will do something else. Oh well, I’ll give it a go”

 
Armani proceeded to watch videos. At first, he was very bored, but he started to enjoy them. Day by day, week by week, Armani became more swayed to watch these videos.

Armani was becoming more attached to his phone. His daily routine has changed dramatically since the day he received his phone. At this point he was waking up only to immediately use his phone to watch a video, then after he prepared for school, he would immediately use his phone, then after he uses his phone, he uses his phone, and before he uses his phone, he uses his phone. In a nutshell, he became addicted to using his phone. Armani had ceased to help his parents with chores anymore, and his attendance rate at school dropped significantly, Armani was starting to go down the slums.

Armani started to hang out a bit more with Ryan and started to like him more, and one day they did something very adventurous.

“Armani, it is time that I introduce you to the real world. Take your phone out, go to the browser, and type in ____________.com”

Armani proceeded to do so, as Ryan instructed. And that day, Armani would never be the same. He kept on going on this website and returning to it. He was ruined, all he could do is go to this website. It was his life, his existence, his purpose.

And Armani, continued. One day at school, before class has started. Armani was watching videos, which was nothing new to Armani. Until, the teacher arrived and saw what he was watching.

“Armani, this is inappropriate content that cannot be consumed during class.” stated his Calculus teacher

“Do you think I care, idiot?” Armani muttered

That day, he received a referral to the principal’s office. And was suspended for a week from going to school.

“Ay, Deo. What did you do my son?” cried Paula

“Mom, I….”

“I never thought you were like this! Where is my real son? You are not my son! My son is a good student, helpful son, a careful person. I raised you for 21 years, and this is what I get? Why? What did I ever do wrong? Why do you kill me my son? I am being torn apart inside out, because of you, and your nonsense.” Paula screamed looking at Armani.

Armani didn’t know what to do, so he let steam, and went into his room. For the first time in his life, Armani has disappointed his mom to a level where she would cry. Armani felt bad, sad, horrible, all malevolent things combined. He cried, and cried, and cried. But he knew it was all right, as long as he had his phone.

He unlocked his phone, and watched videos for the rest of that day, week, and year.

It was inevitable that Armani would’ve reached this point. After all of this carelessness, and recklessness he would eventually drop out of university only to stay at home with his hardworking parents. Doing nothing but watching videos, and playing games. His life became his phone, and he knew it. It was an addiction that he couldn’t quit, everyone was on their phones at the time. He felt disconnected from people if he ever lost his phone privilege, but he never felt disconnected with his phone.

His mother would cry days, weeks, and years upon end because of what has become her son. She couldn’t stand him at all, and his father couldn’t either. They got old, very quickly, as they got disappointed in their son, which has went down the sewers.

All the pleaing, begging, and asking did nothing to convince Armani to get off of his phone, it was to the extent that one day, Armani stayed his room the entire day, and ceasing to function as a normal human being who goes to the bathroom.

“Armani?!” Exclamed his mother

He did not reply, he kept on watching the DewDieRie video he was on.

“Armani you smell like… Actual crap! Armani, you s*** yourself!” she cried

Armani at this point in time, has lost his mind to his phone. He did not even recognise that he had been in this state until his mother poured 5 gallons of cold water on him that he finally responeded. That day, they went to see the doctor, to have an evaluation of what was wrong with Armani, as soiling one’s underwear while being conscious is no normal feat.

“I am afraid that your son has lost all his ability to use reason, and logic. How so? You may ask. Well, you have already told me that your son cannot seem to do anything but watch these videos. Since your son has stayed docile for extended periods of time of upwards of two weeks at a time, his bones have become flexible, his teeth have rotten, his skin has turned completely dry with 2 layers of unshedded skin, and most importantly. He has permanentaly damaged his hippocampus, thus causing him to lose all emotion, and most if not all, of his memories. So he might not know who you are, or what you are at times. Lastly, because of his extreme docility, he has a 90% chance of becoming quadriplegic within the next 3 months”

“Doctor, is there anyway to reverse this?” Asked his father

“You cannot reverse the past, which has included your failed parenting. But, we can recover your son to a certain extent, with two steps 1. That he stops using his phone completely 2. That he gets up from his bed, and moves so he regain his strength, and exit his bodily hibernation.”

“Thank you doctor, but is there any treatment for his addiction?”

“It is absolutely ridiculous for you to ask this, of course there isn’t any treatment for his addiction. His addiction is not even recognized by the American Board of Psychology, do you expect that there is any medication for this when it isn’t even considered a disease, and thus gets no research or attention at all? The only solution to this is getting you kid off of his phone, and that’s it. Now, I am a parent, and I have gone through raising three children, all, successful doctors working at the most prestigious universities. My best advice here, is to try all methods possible to make him listen to you...”

“I....” Armani gasped out

Everyone in the room stopped and was looking at him.

“want…”

“Come on spit it out.” said his father, anxiously

“to...”

“Come on, come on!”

“talk to...”

“YES? Talk to who?”

“The person...”

“Which person?”

“That...”

“sold…..”

“Sold what?”

“the phone.”

Armani, immediately starting coughing afterward. He has not spoken for months, nor functioned as a human being. He has almost completely forgotten to speak. He sucked in air into his lungs, as if conducting a great exercise.

“I told you, I warned you, and you did not listen.” sighed the Thrift store manager.

The manager came to visit the quadriplegic boy, after Armani’s father had contacted him. The generous manager complied.

“I told you, Armani. A life is much more than a phone, it is much more. It is your dreams, your passions, it is most importantly....” the manager paused, “You.”

Armani burst into tears hearing what the manager said.

“Arghhh, it burns” Armani shrieked as the tears filled his eyes.

Armani remembered the exact moment, the exact careless moment where he decided to purchase the phone, something that he never expected was going to ruin his life, but was warned it would. Armani never thought such a small thing, could be so big.

Paula, would die soon after Armani’s tears. The failed loving mother could not handle the sheer amount of sadness that she felt for her son, and all she asked for was peace. Armani cried again, with her death.

Soon afterwards, his father would die too. His occupation as a janitor was no easy task, as he had to clean with abrasive chemicals that contained substances that weren’t recognized to be toxic to humans, which ultimately led to his death by lung cancer.

However, there is a bit of light to this.

Shortly after those events occurred, Armani had received a wheelchair in which he could transport himself with. And he went to a homeless shelter, as he had no home after his parents died, and he was disabled.

Armani soon enough quit his addiction, with some recovery. Though he was still quadriplegic, with a bit of practice, he had regained his ability to speak, and one day at the shelter he met this wonderful young lady. She was homeless too, and wanted to become a part of society, but she was rejected by everyone at her school, she was looked down upon just like Armani, and so Armani acted.

“Young Paulina” he said. “You remind me of my younger self. I used to think like you all of the time. I was worried about what people were thinking of me the entire time. People judged me the most for not having a phone, and I resisted, for a very long time, until one day I bought a phone. And what you see in front of you right now, is the result of this phone.”

“I am not convinced” replied Paulina. “How can a phone do something like that?”

“Anything can do something like that, as long as it controls you Paulina. Don’t let anyone control you except your Parents, and yourself.”

Paulina remembered that, and forever did. It is up to you to decide what will happen next.