I am not entirely sure how it happened — but somehow in the last few years, I lost my connection with music. It could have been any number of things: throwing out my CD covers after I had ripped their insides, discarding playlists whilst moving between computers, a brief but horrific dalliance with iTunes Match or surfing the banal infinitudes of Spotify. Whatever the reason, the result was unequivocal — I had stopped listening to music, and had started consuming it.

You can only imagine what future anthropologists will make of the strange hieroglyphs that pepper our daily communications. Adults and teenagers alike have substituted words for icons of dancing women, smiley faces and ninjas. So is emoji just a fad, or a dress rehearsal for an even more profound evolution in human interaction?

The 21st century is a wonderful time to be a kid. Never has so much information, entertainment and wonder been so readily available to any child with access to a connected device — it is, in other words, a tough time to be a parent. Technology dominates our adult work and personal lives, but what role should it play in childhood and learning?

The first time I heard the phrase, everyday carry, I was certain it must be a term of endearment used by gun aficionados to describe a favoured firearm. But no, there are actually entire online communities dedicated to what they lovingly label ‘EDC’, or the eclectic assortment of objects and tools that men choose to stuff their pockets, pouches and satchels with.