Colección de problemas resueltos

Ten years ago, everybody was getting home after work to a fixed answerphone and nobody ever left a message. Now, everywhere you look -on trains, on buses, in shopping centres, in restaurants, at wedding receptions- what a miracle! What a transformation! So many happy people talking away into their mobile phones. Connected at last!

However, on some social occasions, from just a meeting of two friends to a funeral, mobile phones can be the enemy. They mean that people are not joining in, they're imposing, they're disrupting. It would have been better if they'd brought a book with them, which they could get on with quietly in a corner. SWITCH THEM OFF. Liberate yourself. The missed call won't be someone saying your house has burnt down. If you can't control yourself, "check" your phone out of sight of the others, in the toilets perhaps.

It's perfectly obvious -but how often does it happen?- if you really have to either make or receive an urgent call during a social occasion, you should explain the situation to the others at the outset. When the time comes, remove yourself from the scene to deal with the call. Whatever you do, apologise.

And now, here is an appeal to the good, too-silent majority. Don't put up with it. Don't suffer in silence. If you come across some rude mobile phone addicts, don't hesitate to interrupt and ask them to move away, to switch off. If they are passengers in your car, stop, ask them to get out, especially if it's raining.