There’s this crop of sophomores who converge at an ice cream store on the road I usually take whenever I’m going home.

This road isn’t busy, so these Senior High School boys mostly spend some time there before dispersing to their various homes.

On a few occasions that I’ve had to continue working on an article I’m not done writing while using that road, they’d quickly turn all their attention towards me, particularly to the number of cameras on my phone. It’s an iPhone — you know!

Their line of conversation changes swiftly from their concupiscent desires and football; to arguing about the type of phone I’m using.

One could tell from their determined demeanour that if they were to be gifted with a colossal sum of money, first to be considered on their scale of preference would be nothing but a whooping GH₵14,000 phone, and not books or enrolling on some software-related courses.

iPhone obsession is a disease which has plagued our teeming youth. They could go to space and back just to buy an iPhone. I have seen young people drooling over iPhones which can pay their school fees from Senior High to some extent, tertiary. It beseems they are yet to see that the enjoyment of this world is only ephemeral. How did we get here — that we suddenly want to wear the colourful jersey of prestige without first thinking about our physiological needs!?

This development isn’t good. How do I help them in a small way!? Remember, we aren’t in the days when a neighbour could discipline a child without having the parents rant and roar (i.e., when they, as children, misbehave). In this age, a lot of things have gone bad.

I came up with an idea — that I’d have to hide my phone and won’t have to work on any article whenever I get to that spot. Rather, I consciously displayed these books — Gifted Hands and Think Big — and took to reading while walking.

From this end, their gossiping about my phone stopped. They focused on their flirtatious chitchats as if they hadn’t seen that I had changed from pressing my phone to the display of bestselling books (or reading).

When we were in Senior High, our story wasn’t different from theirs. Some of us, though being General Arts students, didn’t read any extracurricular books. The only thing we didn’t do was make a phone the main subject of our chitchats because smartphones were then gaining momentum.

After decades-long, it’s heartbreaking to see our future lads towing this same contoured path. Their chitchats are bereft of lusting over books and reading. It could be partly blamed on the schools they attend, and wholesomely, on the type of friends they do make. This shouldn’t be happening today. Because, at this age, reading averse is costly and detrimental.

That notwithstanding, last week I met this game changer (a young girl with reduced mobility) on that same stretch of the road. She’s in form two (Junior High) and attends a different school. I engaged her briefly in academia and books.

It was exhilarating when she disclosed that she had read three extracurricular books already this month. It’s obvious that her parents are responsible, and she’s blessed with teachers who make reading pleasing to the youth.

I did encourage her to keep lusting over books. And that if our paths cross again she’d have to brief me on them. She agreed, with a beautiful grin. I’m looking forward to meeting her again.

There’s hope: the future might not be bleak.