Oh, the agony!

New agony aunt Mrs Hudson solves your dilemmas Cold turkey

QFed up with sitting in a room of people glued to devices or finding my children texting at midnight, I have decreed all mobile phones and tablets will be shut in a drawer from 6pm until after breakfast the next morning. The children complained, but my husband has flatly refused to abide by the rule. How can I expect them to comply if he won’t? M. C., Kent A

I am partly in awe of you and partly terrified at the prospect of ever meeting you. I imagine your children can look forward to mind-improving tomes and useful new underwear at Christmas. Their peers will be envious. Yet I do believe you are doing the right thing—it was during lockdown that I found a strange lump on my little finger. It proved to be a callous, developed from incessant phone-clutching—it was only when my online activities started literally to deform me that I went cold turkey. Hopefully, you have caught the children before permanent stoops set in.

Is your husband concerned about missing an important call or only about having to make conversation? You could, if feeling generous, allow him to bend the rules once the babes are asleep, but this still leaves you chatting to the succulents. Perhaps you need to make being offline a more attractive proposition? A little mood lighting, a nice bottle of something… I shall leave you to fill in the rest. And yes, of course I meant a jigsaw.

In need of advice? Email your problem to mrs.hudson@futurenet.com