Asking for trouble

I got my first mobile phone about eight years ago – having fought a long battle with my mother, she finally realised my "I couldn't find a pay phone" excuse for consistently arriving home late and slightly the worse for wear from the 'cinema' would be rendered useless with the purchase of what was essentially, at the time, a pretty cheap bit of plastic.

Nowadays, I'm in possession of something much sleeker, and if I was to leave home without my beloved iPhone, I shudder to think of the consequences.

I use it to find my way to meetings, choose restaurants at the last minute, while away time on the tube playing solitaire, and sometimes even to call people. And I would have no idea what was going on in the world. Okay, yes, the world according to Facebook and Twitter.

I am not alone in this. Around one third of UK adults own a smartphone and in