Should we be smart and ditch our phones?

I’ve got this great idea: let’s all not use our smartphones for 24 hours.

Actually, the idea didn’t come from me – or, after last week, from high up in Hezbollah – but is instead the brainchild of the Offline Club, an initiative set up in the Netherlands.

I know this, because I looked it up on my phone.

They already have spin-off groups all along the cosmetic bottle route: Paris, Milan, London, Barcelona, Dubai… Aarhus? Where the hell is Aarhus? *reaches for phone again*

Aarhus is in Denmark. On Sunday, they encouraged the world to hang up. I did not, clearly. After all, I had a column to write. I also had to do Wordle, Connections, and Duolingo, because I have long streaks I mustn’t lose, most notably *checks phone* a 1 272-day streak in Spanish. Arriba, arriba!

Then I must relay my Wordle results to my mum and sister via our WhatsApp group, as well as to two of my other friends who I keep in touch with via daily Wordle reports.

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Next, I need to check in with my faraway boys on our mum-and-sons WhatsApp group, and I must look at Instagram too because they sometimes communicate via reels, memes and funny videos, and when you live in a different country you take whatever crumbs you can.

There’s the weather app as well, because it might rain today, and if the heavens are going to open what time will be best for walking the dogs?

While I’m at it, and because my calendar is on my phone, I check what’s on during the week ahead. Then I need to add a couple of things to my shopping list on Notes.

And what’s the name of that film again? That actor? That book? Who said that thing? Is it even true? Thanks Google!

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Generally, I spend three hours a day looking at my phone, but I’m not the worst because they reckon the average is around five (I’d tell you who “they” is, but that would mean looking it up on my phone). Less than two is optimal – or should that be “fewer”? *reaches for phone*

But just imagine what I, what we, might achieve with that extra hour or two a day.

So I’ve got this great idea: let’s all not use our smartphones for 22 hours.