Having a phone can wait, studies come first for this teen

JOHOR BARU: Imagine a teenager abstaining from all the fun of owning a mobile phone.

Friends who want to reach him would call his parents.

That’s the case with M. Laxmann who decided against owning the gadget until he completed his secondary schooling.

“My parents advised me to wait until after SPM to get a phone and I agreed with them as I felt having a phone was not something that I needed urgently,” said the 18-year-old boy, who doesn’t have any social media accounts to his name.

Getting priorities right: Laxmann with his SPM results.

His long wait has come to an end now that Laxmann has obtained his Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) results two weeks ago.

And to add icing to that cake, he scored 12A+. This means that he was among the top 2022 SPM scorers in Johor.

“Time can fly very fast without us realising when we have our eyes glued to social media and I do not want that to happen to me,” said Laxmann, who studied at Maktab Sultan Abu Bakar .

The eldest of three siblings said that despite being the only one in class without a phone, he did not feel left out and was still up to date on things around him.

“From time to time, I would use my friends or parents’ phones to check on trending things on social media but at least there was a clear limit on how often I could indulge in these activities.

“I would also allow myself to play online games but with limitations as I wanted to focus on the SPM.

“When classes were conducted online at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, I used a laptop at home for my studies,” he said.

On his outstanding SPM results, Laxmann said that he was surprised as he had only been aiming for just “a few” As.

“My target was to get all As but I did not expect to get straight A+ at all.

“It was such a pleasant surprise.

“I am very grateful to those who have helped me, especially my parents and teachers,” he said.

Laxmann, who is interested in pursuing studies in engineering or artificial intelligence, also shared his own little study habit.

“For language and science subjects, I found that I could study better when I am fresh after a nice shower,” he said.

For now, the teenager is happy to have a phone. And he has started downloading some social media apps though he is trying not to become too engrossed with them.