Hello?

The other day my phone travelled to work with my husband. I was already AT work, had left it at home where he still was, and he was to drop it off on his way to various sites. Distracted by calls as he drove, he forgot to come past and drop it off.

After an initial burst of irritation, I realised it was not really his problem. After all, it was me who'd forgotten my phone in the first place. True, he offered to bring it when asked; but it was still "my problem", not, as my son William taught me a few days ago, "SEP" - someone else's problem. I know you will want to know that the phrase "someone else's problem" comes from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (we aren't sure, William and I, from which of the four books in the trilogy* it came).

I needed my phone to facilitate payments from clients at work - but I could use my employer's phone (and she got to practice leaving it with me like she's supposed to do. My two employers are doctors, and the phone should be with me while they consult. They each manage this in different ways - a story for another day.)

The only message on my absent phone that needed attending to was one about collecting a carpet to be cleaned. Steve organised for the carpet to be got ready, but forgot to reply to the message; the carpet simply waited until the next day to be collected. (I'm remembering E.E. Nesbit's tale of The Phoenix and the Carpet, where an old rolled-up carpet bought on a sale turns out to be magical... The magic in our case will be to have a clean carpet once again!)

I'm sure if I ran a business I'd be writing in a different tone, saying how much I'd missed out on with my phone not to hand. As it is, I have to report that I managed perfectly well without it. All the experts who write about screen time and cell phone use advise "time off" - devices turned off or put away, down-time. Take it from me: this is not nearly as scary or difficult as it sounds.

Step one: leave your phone at home...

* if you think this is a mistake - four books in a trilogy - it means you have not encountered the author Douglas Adams. You have missed out.