I’d been craving the immediacy of a phone call. So I scrolled through my contacts and started dialling

‘Many of us don’t make phone calls any more, even those who grew up so obsessed with the home phone that we spent hours with a warm ear nestled into the receiver.’ Photograph: Posed by models; Studio4/Getty Images

The first thing my friend Paul says after he picks up after four dial tones is “is everything OK?”

Everything is OK. I was just calling for a chat.