The Year Without a Smartphone

The Year Without a Smartphone

A Christmas story for the not-so-distant future

It was December 2027, and something terrible had happened.

Santa Claus had made his annual announcement.

There would be no smartphones for Christmas.

Not one.

Not even a refurbished iPhone.

The North Pole had officially declared a global digital detox.

The elves were in revolt. Mrs. Claus was threatening to leave. Rudolph had deleted his Instagram account, and Santa couldn't find his way to the shopping mall because Google Maps had gone dark.

But that wasn't the worst of it.

The children were asking questions.

"Santa, how will we know you're coming?"

"Look out the window," Santa replied.

"Can you send us a notification?"

"No."

"Can we track your sleigh?"

"No."

"Can we FaceTime you?"

"Absolutely not."

Santa was beginning to wonder whether Christmas had become a customer service problem.

Meanwhile, down on Earth, things were getting rather strange.

People were talking to each other in grocery stores. Neighbours were suddenly discovering they lived next door to actual human beings. Parents were asking their children to look up from their hands.

One teenager had been found staring at a tree for 17 minutes.

Doctors called it a breakthrough.

Restaurants reported a mysterious increase in conversation. Parks were full. Libraries had waiting lists. People were taking photographs with actual cameras.

And then came the twist.

On Christmas morning, millions of people woke up to find a small envelope under their tree.

Inside was a note from Santa:

\*"Dear Everyone,

You wanted a new phone.

Instead, I gave you back something you had forgotten you owned.

Your time.

Your attention.

Your imagination.

Your privacy.

And, most importantly, each other.

Merry Christmas.

P.S. I did try to post this on Facebook, but apparently nobody was there."\*

But there was one final surprise.

At the bottom of the letter, in very tiny writing, was another message:

"P.P.S. The elves have been monitoring your screen time for years. We know who's been naughty."

And just like that, everyone reached for their phones.

Only to discover that they had all been replaced by little red stockings.

Inside each stocking was a handwritten list of things to do in 2028.

The first item?

Go outside and play.

And somewhere at the North Pole, Santa laughed so hard that Rudolph nearly fell off the roof.

The End.

Or perhaps, the beginning. 🎄