Simon Cowell hasn’t used his mobile phone for 10 months – and he feels so much happier for it. The 58-year-old music mogul decided to place himself on a mobile ban last year in a bid to boost his mental health and he has admitted he’s got no intention of lifting his self-imposed restriction because he feels “happier” and more focused without it.

Speaking to the Mail on Sunday newspaper, he said: “I literally have not been on my phone for 10 months. The difference it made was that I became more aware of the people around me and way more focused. “The thing I get irritated with is when you have a meeting everyone’s on their phone – and I was probably in that place too. You can’t concentrate. It has been so good for my mental health. It’s a very strange experience but it really is good for you and it has absolutely made me happier.”

The ‘X Factor’ judge is also really strict when it comes to how much time his four-year-old son Eric, whom he has with his girlfriend Lauren Silverman, can spend on the iPad and would rather they sit down and watch an intellectual TV show instead. Eric has already shown that he’s got a cheeky personality as he once snubbed Robbie William’s five-year-old daughter Teddy because she had a runny nose.

Robbie’s wife Ayda Field said recently: “Teddy had a really runny nose and you’ll never believe this, but Eric is quite particular, and he said I’m not going to date someone … you can’t be my girlfriend because you’ve got a runny nose.

“So she wiped her nose and goes, ‘Yes I am.’ It was like Little Rob and Little Simon. ‘You’re not going to date me.’ ‘You are going to date me.’ “