About two billion people own mobile phones, according to a tiny story in today's The Australian. The one that has made the most difference in my life recently belongs to my daughter. I hadn't heard from her in about a year. Then, last Wednesday, she e-mailed me from her mobile. Since then I've had 24 e-mails from her.

One of them had an attachment, showing her brother, who is now eleven years old:


On the weekend, she went to karaoke with her friends, at a shopping centre near her home, and was home by 4.00pm. While she was out, she took this:


But I couldn't see her face (she's the one on the left, with the 'A' over her). So I complained causing her to send this today:


Fourteen-year-old Japanese girls love these 'purikura' ('print club') photos and there are booths installed all over the place in shopping centres, even inside individual shops.

So, for me, the mobile phone has revolutionised my life. I have a direct line of contact with my daughter that is independent of her mother, whose relationship with me is, to be quite frank, very shaky.