I was very surprised today when I got to work and realised I had left my mobile phone at home and then found myself feeling that something was missing all day.  The truth is that I use it like a sort of pocket watch more than I ever use it as a phone, which is why it was so surprising I should fell under-dressed without it.

For a supposed gadget-freak I have an unlikely lack of affection for mobiles.  I have an old model with few flashy features,  and even that is inherited from one of the kids.  Its on pay-as-you-go and I hardly ever have to top it up: the credit normally goes in one big chunk when I decide to have a chat to an old mate.  Quite often I don’t make any calls, and I don’t receive many either.  I don’t take the phone with me when I am going out anywhere with the family, unless I know we are going to split up at some point, and often leave it at home if I am not expecting a call, but I do take it to work.

That is a hangover from when Jayne was taking me to work and picking me up and we could text each other if either was running late, or early.  And yet I was aware for most of the day that I was uncontactable – probably just as well as it would only have been expensive news from the garage,

Some people seem to be so attached to their phones they would have to be surgically removed.  I worked with a bloke who had two personal mobiles sat on his desk all the time, and when we tried to enforce a ban on helpdesk staff having personal mobiles switched on the reaction was as if we were trying to deny some basic human right.   In fact I think there are large chunks of the population who think that having a mobile is a basic human right.

I am trying to imagine how such people would feel if they left their mobile at home, or even lost it, if even my slight usage caused me a little discomfort.  They must feel like they are missing a limb or something.   I just felt like I had a fingernail missing.