Friendships meant everything to me as a child. I worry today’s young people are being robbed of that | Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett

We sat in the park, laughing for hours, talking about nothing.

Today’s childhoods are digital – and the result is an epidemic of loneliness I saw an old friend recently – the kind you’ve known for so long that you clear a whole day for them, as you might a family member. We laughed and laughed like we were teenagers again, and drank martinis before lunch, and it felt almost like it always did when we were young, except we could afford better than cheap…