I used to astonish my pupils years ago by telling them we had no phone at all for my whole youth; right up until I left home for Uni there was no phone in our house. One went to the phone box on the corner to make a call (but as hardly anyone we knew had a phone either, who would one ring?) Strangely enough we managed to survive, and never gave it a minute's thought. I used to send postcards to my two friends, both called Susan, from Grammar School during the hols, with details of a rendezvous for going up to London on a jaunt. (They each lived several miles from my house.) The postcards arrived the following day and our meetings took place as arranged. We also all cycled everywhere to meet mates in person, so didn't need a phone. I can't for the life of me see why these things are so essential. And if one is with a small child or baby, please, one should be concentrating on the little one, not ignoring it for hours on end. They'll have such blank memories of their babyhood, stuck in a pushchair with mum's nose glued to the blasted mobile. Poor little mites.