Ten minutes of your full, phone-down attention is a better gift than most things you could buy.

Attention is the one thing you have that cannot be bought with somebody else’s money. Ten minutes where you are fully there costs you ten minutes of your life, and that is precisely what makes it worth something; a present costs whatever you had in your pocket. People can tell the difference immediately.

Somebody in your house has probably not had a real conversation with you in two weeks. Sit down with them, phone in another room, and ask one question that is not about logistics. Ten minutes is a small amount of your evening and a large amount to be given.