I LIKE the story about the teenagers who were able to attract rescuers by waving their mobile phones in the air.

The youngsters were trapped by the rising tide below the white cliffs of Dover and used their phones as distress beacons for RNLI rescue teams.

That is a good example of where having a smartphone glued to your hand could work in your favour.

In some respects, it's good to see a positive use of the objects which can feel all-encompassing in today's world. In my lifetime, I've experienced a time when the only phone available was a landline but my children will not have that opportunity.

I do restrict screen time but my two-year-old still shows a frighteningly good grasp of iPhone technique, skilfully swiping away any of my incoming messages so she can get back to her Peppa Pig game.

Fortunately, a recent glamping trip demonstrated how easy it is - if you want to - to leave the phones behind.

The place we stayed was far from what you might expect of camping with a toilet and running water but, crucially, no electricity.

I had no worries about how the children would cope.

Who needs TV when you are living in a playground, with limitless green space that you can safely run around in, a fort astride a stream to explore, animals to look at and eggs to collect?

They were in their element.

But how would I cope?

Like many, I view my smartphone as a link to the rest of the world - a way to contact friends and family, an encyclopaedia for anything I need to know on the go, something to look at when I'm bored. The list is endless.

But with no electricity, my lifeline would soon be out of juice and I would be - in a manner of speaking - on my own.

Guess what? It was fine. (I've done this before, you know.)

But it's hard to explain self-reliance to the children when they've never really had to experience it.

Case in point: "Where are we?", "I don't know." "Why don't you google it?"

My trip was a good reminder that, for self-preservation, it's worth turning the phones off from time to time - just to remember if you still know how to live without it.

Plus it'll save the battery for when you really need a distress signal.