I WAS giving my teenage daughter a lift.

I was chatting to her, she was smiling. My words of wisdom were sinking in, my jokes hitting the mark, my sharp observations savoured for their insights.

“Eh, what did you say?”

There was a metaphorical hissing sound as my ego deflated like a punctured balloon.

She had her tiny iPhone earphones in and had been listening to the latest tune by 21 Pilots all along.

It’s a symptom of modern life.

When I’m on the train into work, often somebody next to me will suddenly start talking, apparently to nobody. My first reaction is they’ve become possessed like Linda Blair in the Exorcist. My second is that they’re striking up a conversation with me.

After making a fool of myself by saying ‘sorry?’ or joining in the conversation, I realise they have their phone concealed and are using a hands-free kit.

This is the modern world. I’ve nothing against it. I just haven’t unpacked my bags yet.

The above examples are amusing. But last week I was going to catch a train from work and was walking along Manchester’s Oxford Road.

If you’ve never experienced it during rush hour, let me tell you it is madness. It’s the busiest bus route in Europe, there are cyclists, hundreds of students, taxis and other vehicles competing with each other in an ugly, bruising race to get home.

I found myself with dozens of other homeward-bound pedestrians standing on the kerb waiting to cross safely.

The road was clear but we stood patiently willing the red man to morph into a striding green one.

A car swung into the lane in front of us. It was the precise moment a young woman - a student I guess - stepped out directly into the path of the oncoming car.

I shouted at her, throwing my arms in the air. Others did the same, pumped with adrenaline.

The car braked violently, the front of the bonnet dipping, the driver visibly shocked.

But the young woman strode on oblivious to how close she’d come to being seriously injured.

She was wearing a pair of those massive wireless ‘tin-can’ headphones. No doubt listening to 21 Pilots or somebody else I’ve never heard of.

Next time she might not be so lucky.

A study in the US a few years back showed there had been a huge increase in the numbers of pedestrians killed by oncoming traffic in recent years. The spike coincided with the rise in pedestrian earphone usage.

The moral this week - and I urge you to pass it on - is never walk or cycle on busy streets with earphones in.

It could cost you your life.