Q. May I pass on a tip to readers? Three of my sons are revising for exams at the moment, all in the face of the usual sorts of distractions from social networking sites, cricket and football score alerts, to say nothing of emails pinging into their laptops. I was therefore delighted when they told me that an electronic opportunity to resist these temptations now exists. Two of my sons have installed it into their own MacBooks. Apparently you just go to Google and download ‘self-control app’. This application enables you to set a limit, say two hours, during which all access to time-wasting social networking sites and emails are blocked. You work without interruptions for the self-imposed period at the end of which you are rewarded by the flood of ‘communications’ which have built up in cyberspace. My sons find it most helpful.
— L.G., Fosbury, Wiltshire
A. How very kind of you to alert readers to this useful ‘app’ from which adults could also benefit. May I take this opportunity to remind parents that, just because there is silence emanating from a room wherein a child is supposedly revising, it does not mean they are not wearing headphones and watching a DVD.
Q. The other night, while driving alone, my car telephone began broadcasting a lengthy argument between two close friends who are married to each other. What is the correct etiquette when someone ‘pocket dials’ you by mistake? Should you go on listening or should you hang up immediately? I concluded this was just a bad-tempered spat but still feel uneasy at having been the involuntary eavesdropper to it.
— D.M., London W11
A. Pocket dialling, or ‘butt dialling’ as Americans call it, is now prevalent. It is not correct to hang up immediately, however, as there is the possibility that the call is a cry for help and the recipient is being quietly begged to rush round to intervene. Once you have established that this is not the case you may hang up, but it is kinder to those who invade their own privacy in this way to blank from your mind what you were never intended to overhear. All the world’s a stage and all the men and women on it players. The ‘show’ would grind to a halt if real personas were constantly being exposed.
Q. I feel inadequate and as though everyone must hate me as each time my telephone rings I bumble in my bag for it and it has always stopped by the time I get to it. How can I cure myself of this bad habit?
— S.H., Wiltshire
A. Phone companies set their mobiles to ring only three times as a default so you have to use their network to ring back. Have it changed by ringing customer services at HQ.
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