The Lost Years(Waseem Ahmed Khattak) When Lily was just eight years old, she received her first smartphone. It was a gift from her parents, who wanted her to be able to stay in touch when she went to her after-school activities. But what started as a convenience quickly turned into an obsession.

Lily would spend hours each day on her phone, scrolling through social media and playing games. She was constantly connected to the virtual world, and the real world around her started to fade away. She would sit at dinner with her family, her phone in hand, barely paying attention to the conversation. She stopped going outside to play with her friends, preferring instead to stay inside and watch YouTube videos.

Lily's parents tried to limit her phone use, but it was a losing battle. Lily had become addicted, and the thought of being without her phone was unbearable. She couldn't imagine life without the constant stimulation of the internet and the social connections it provided.

Years went by, and Lily's addiction only grew worse. She stopped doing well in school, and her relationships with her family and friends suffered. She was irritable and withdrawn, and it seemed like nothing could break the hold that her phone had on her.

But then, one day, Lily's phone was stolen. At first, she was devastated. But as the days went by, she started to realize that the theft might have been a blessing in disguise. For the first time in years, she was forced to disconnect from the virtual world and connect with the real one.
Without her phone to distract her, Lily started to see the world in a new light. She went outside and played with her friends, read books, and even started writing stories of her own. She had forgotten how much she loved being creative and imaginative, and she was grateful for the chance to rediscover that part of herself.

When Lily finally got a new phone, she made a promise to herself to use it more mindfully. She still used social media and played games, but she didn't let it consume her life like it had before. She realized that she had lost years of her childhood to her phone, and she didn't want to lose any more. She wanted to make the most of every moment and savor the experiences that life had to offer.

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