Does staring at your phone for hours on end serve any practical purpose?

How often are we guilty of ignoring the people we love to check if randoms we haven't seen in years have posted new pictures of their children online?

• If you would like advice from Emma Brockes on how to be a human online, send us a brief description of your concerns to human.online@theguardian.com

Does staring at my phone for hours every day serve any practical purpose?

I recently weaned my two two-year-olds off pacifiers. They were heavy users and I kept telling myself I was going to do it, but didn't. Then I took them to the dentist and after looking in their mouths - what was happening to their jaws through extended use of the pacifier - she said a word more terrifying to British ears in America than either "Trump" or "audience participation": "orthodontics". The next day I told them the pacifier fairy had visited overnight and taken their pacifiers to give to "the babies".