None of us are addicted to our phones — technically. If we stop using them, we won’t get night sweats or race to the bathroom. No one is being admitted to a psych ward because they ran out of data. A better term would be “habituated” – it’s more accurate, and makes me sound like a fancy sociologist.

It’s important to frame it this way because there’s a lot we can do to combat habits. I know, for example, that I can’t be trusted when there are Tim Tams in the fridge. If I promise myself I’m just going to eat one, I somehow black out and wake up on the couch with four stuffed into my mouth. So the wise thing to do is stop having them in the house (they’re now reserved for special occasions like birthday parties and funerals).

Similarly, I’ve realised that I need to turn my phone off when I’m at home. Like all Millennials, I’ve become entirely dependent on the thing. I can’t find the house next door without Google Maps; an evening walk feels unproductive without a podcast playing; I need to like my friend’s selfies that they took at Meredith; and Wordle isn’t going to solve itself!

But too often I find myself cuddling my one-year-old, sitting with him on the floor among his toys and then sliding my phone out of my pocket just to check the time … and respond to a notification … and check my email … and then the news … and then swipe through a few Instagram Reels. Next thing I know, my son has crawled to the other side of the room and is licking dry yoghurt off the wall.

There’s only one solution: We need to bring back the landline home phone. That way, when you walk in the front door we can switch off the smartphone and store it somewhere out of sight until you leave the house again (or need to live-tweet your reactions to room reveals on The Block).

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I could get an app that puts time restrictions on my social media accounts, but I know that if I did, I’d just spend more time on news apps or YouTube. The companies behind these devices and apps have spent millions designing a user experience that keeps us coming back again and again, and staying on as long as possible. Who am I to think I can control my habits with sheer willpower when I’m up against offices full of marketers, designers, psychologists, algorithm experts and an assortment of other nerds being paid a motza to hold my attention?

A home phone allows you or the kids to contact Triple Zero. It also allows you to be contactable for emergencies or when your in-laws are just down the road and want to drop in for a coffee and a casual chat about their will. You get to decide who has the number, meaning that if you hear it ring you know it’s worth attending to. And if you never put said number anywhere online, it’s highly unlikely to fall into the spammy hands of scammers and telemarketers.

A reintroduction of the landline wouldn’t just wean us off our co-dependent relationships with smartphones. It’d also set up the next generation with some much-needed essential life skills that appear to be slipping. According to a recent UK study from Uswitch, 23 per cent of people aged 18 never answer phone calls, while 56 per cent of participants say they assume an unexpected phone call is a sign of bad news. Preferring a text message is fine when the topic of conversation is which mall to hang out at on the weekend, but try telling a potential employer to send you a voice note instead of calling.