These days, it feels like the world is fixated on two main things: Isil and iPhone. This article is obviously about the latter and judging by the overwhelming response of people in the US and Japan in terms of trying to get their hands on the latest instalment of the Apple products, it is worth pondering the extent of our obsession with the gadget.

I am sure many of the thousands of people who queued up for hours to get their hands on iPhone 6, or the 6 plus aren’t in desperate need for a ‘phone’. Many of them will have been using perfectly functional phones. But ever since the launch, we’ve been overcome by stories in the media of people ‘needing’ to get their hands on the latest cell phone.

One US shopper was quoted as saying: “My life revolves around my phone.” How accurate is this statement? Time for self-reflection. We use our phones to make calls (yup, it’s true), to check the time, to take pictures, to log onto social media platforms, to browse the net, to shop, to make online payments, to play games, to distract our little ones ... Some use it for work purposes — it does come in handy if you need to send that very important work email. Is that it? Apparently not.

One person told me recently he considers his iPhone to be his deity; a divine source of information and technology. Reliable? Check. Has answers to most his questions? Check. Takes the best pictures? Check. This iPhone ‘fix’ that many people are on can be explained in several ways. We live in a hyper-connected world, which has made it very comfortable and acceptable for you and me to constantly be distracted by our phones.

Years ago, I remember the discussion was on the need for parents to watch their children and make sure their exposure to technology was managed and done the right away. Today, it is very difficult to spot a family on an outing where each and every member of that group isn’t using a gadget or a phone at some point. And what about the group of friends who are sat in a café, each on his/her phone and barely making eye-contact, let alone conversing?

Social norms have evolved even further. Get this: More people around the world own a cell phone than have access to running water. According to the United Nations, only 4.5 billion own a toilet (vs six billion who own a cell phone). That is slightly alarming. The discussion has definitely moved beyond societal pressure to own these gadgets and ‘get with the times’. Now it is a matter of keeping up.

Earlier this summer, a German company made headlines when it offered its 100,000 employees a choice to have all their incoming emails automatically deleted when they are on holiday — likely done to ease off the phone dependability. I wonder if this experiment worked and the employees actually switched off completely. Does it really matter though?

There is a sense out there that you’ve got to be smart-phone conscious. Otherwise, you’ll be left out. After all, smart phone technology is only going to grow and there will always be a bigger, fancier, sharper product to be launched. Never the other way around. So in conclusion, either the annual iPhone launch spectacle is getting bigger each time or my memory is truly starting to fail me. What ever it is, it gives us all something to think about.

And what would motorists do without mobile phones? Who would they talk to?