Mal Fletcher comments on the 2015 Budget and Sunday shopping

However, hypertext links allow me - or encourage me - to do exactly that, to skip quickly from one source to another, to multi-screen.

Multi-tasking sounds sexy, but it has been shown in the workspace to reduce productivity, increasing the likelihood of mistakes. Cognition tests demonstrate clearly that multi-tasking is another word for distraction, as the human brain only focuses properly on one thing at a time.

In the face of the distractions provided by otherwise helpful technologies and increased travel, we should treasure every chance we get to engage those close to us in face-to-face conversation.

Engaging them in face-to-face conversation and sharing experiences and building memories together boosts our mental and physical wellbeing. For generations, Sundays have provided one very important opportunity for us to do just that.

There are other factors to be considered here, too.

Empathy skills are central to the resolution of conflicts within families and among friends and like all skills they require time and practice. They are not easily developed in an environment of constant distraction.

International studies indicate that an increasing engagement with digital gadgets is leading to a drop in empathy levels among some younger people. We may, as one writer put it, be raising a generation that desperately needs empathy but is unable to give it.

Having one day each week in which social norms gently encourage us to come together, provides a rare opportunity to build empathy and to come to new understandings about conflict situations.

Setting aside certain days in a year, arguably also helps to encourage reflection. These days provide downtime when our minds can assimilate everything that's been going on in our lives, including our work and relationships.

Psychologists have suggested that our thinking becomes ever more shallow when we're constantly switched on and rushing about.

There are clear signs that stress in the workplace is increasing today, partly because people can't switch off out of hours. Even children are affected by the lack of reflection time. According to one UK study, 40 percent of children who own a smartphone are sleep deprived.

For the sake of our physical and cognitive welfare, we need days when social convention suggests that we're not expected to be doing anything in particular - whether that's working at the cash register or hunting for bargains in the high street.

One aspect of the argument in favour of relaxing Sunday trading laws revolves around the growth in online shopping. This is growing at such a rate as to represent a serious threat to bricks-and-mortar stores.

Surely, the Treasury should be doing something to redress that competitive imbalance? This is the very same argument one might use to push for 24/7 shopping, as people trade online at all hours of the day and night.