I was in France the other month and in Saumur next to the Loire River I had a drink at an outside area (a "bar" which was an old coach). The entire crowd was sitting chatting with each other, and I did not see a single phone out. Nobody was taking selfies or posing, and the teenagers were sat looking at the river and the cat they found next to it. I think it's very different culturally from elsewhere.

The same was true down near Biscarrosse, where a beach visit and walk through the town just had people and families enjoying life without phones. Same true down into Spain, as we drove down all of France into Spain to get the fery back to the UK.

Back in the UK and everyone is glued to their phones.

I even visited a McDonalds in France, where families were eating together and talking and not a single phone was seen. I was amazed. I was also amazed at the value and how you were served at your table, and how a drink inside the restaurant arrived in a plastic cup, and how the fries were in a reusable plastic sheath. In the UK it's all disposable waste for cups and fries (very short-sighted).

Astoundingly, I survived my childhood and teenage years without social media. I went out on my bike, or stayed at home and read a book and/or learned to play an instrument, or listened to music. Social media isn't solving a problem - it is creating a dependency.