Having ditched the cigarettes some time ago maybe it is time to do away with the other addiction we have - the mobile phone.

For ten years now I have carried this thing around with me. It has been with me through some tough times and in my line of business it is a necessity.

But I'm sure there is life without this piece of technology that has taken over my life. When there was no mobile phone we all got along a lot better.

The idea of ditching the phone came after a chance meeting with a fellow who didn't have a phone.

He had never owned one and never wanted to.

If I want to speak to the guy I have to knock at his house. No silly texts... no missed calls... and no answer phone messages.

"Everyone has a phone. What are you stupid? Why don't you have one?' I said.

He paused for a moment before replying - Maybe I am not that important.' The strange thing is that despite almost everyone now having a mobile phone, we are actually worse at keeping appointments and being on time.

This fellow without the mobile phone is more punctual than any other person I am aware of.

In the early days, one would give out one's number to as many people as possible. If you got a couple of calls a day it meant you were popular.

Now I have started to hate the thing.

I know people might say just switch it off. But it isn't that simple because you still know when you switch it back on there will be some sort of message to which you will have to reply.

And if you don't reply people take it personally. There is no excuse with the blasted mobile phone.

You can't say you didn't get the call or the message because most people know you are lying.

I have tried ignoring it but it draws me back in just in case there is some groundbreaking event I am missing out on somewhere.

Give up the cigarettes - done. Give up the phone? Impossible.

I would love to have only a landline at home.

And if I needed to make a call when I was out, I would love to have to go into a nice old-fashioned phone box.

But there's no escape.