Maria Gonzalez didn't like how technology was slowly taking over everyone's life. She always took the bus to school. Whenever she got on the bus, she would notice that more than half of the people were staring down at their phones. Fewer people were having actual conversations with each other. She felt bad. She thought that this was the reason why people had trouble relating to people in the real world. Everyone was living online now.
Maria had trouble making new friends because she hated being on social media websites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. She rarely met new people. She tried going up to people on the bus and starting a conversation, but they always looked at her weirdly. She felt like she was an outsider, and the only one that was not caught in the Internet's web of lies.
One day, while Maria was walking in the park, she saw a girl walking through the park. The girl wore a long, colorful dress, and was always smiling. Maria wanted to talk to this girl. She walked up to the girl and said hello. At first the girl was startled, because she didn't see Maria coming, but then she smiled and said, "Hello. Do we know each other?" Maria shook her head and said no. Maria asked her if she wanted to hang out and talk. The girl said sure. Maria and the girl talked for hours. They talked about everything: music, boys, family, food, and their shared distrust of technology. Maria had done something she hadn't done since she was a young girl: she made a new friend in the real world.