Dear LPG, 

I remember those pre Covid-19 days when my computer and I struggled to make time for each other, but being locked down gave my fingers a lot of time to indulge in more than their fair share of button and mouse-clicking exercises.

I have to say that I spent many hours getting somewhat frustrated, but boredom kept me returning. They say that practice makes perfect (in my case… a little more proficient), and it took a while, but eventually, I found that surfing for something else to do during that time became a habit that I learnt to enjoy.  

It was not long before I invested in my first smartphone. I promised myself that I would never have one when I first retired, but I blame Covid for giving me the incentive to change my mind. As more of my friends got them, it became cheaper to use them to phone many of them, and staying in touch was so important back then.  

That was all a few years ago; now we are all relatively free. Still, if you are a naturally curious person with lots of spare time, experimenting with anything can be therapeutic, and my new mobile phone became my go-to plaything. I first moved on to making the odd video call and discovered the advantages of Googling on the go. 

During a recent bus journey, I found myself giving my eyes a rest from the screen, and it was then that I looked around me and saw so many of the other travellers still absorbed, and it occurred to me to ask what keeps the rest of the nation engrossed.

I found a list of the top ten things people did with their mobile phones and decided to share it in case other readers need to discover a few more things to try and add another string or two to their mobile phone activity repertoire.  

LF, Croydon 

LF shares an online list of the top ten things people use their mobile phones for apart from making a phone call…

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