Seven in 10 Brits admit they ‘can’t bear to be away’ from their mobile phones, a study found.
Obsessed by their devices, two in five have risked injury by checking their phone while walking or even when running.
Three in 10 said they routinely check their mobile as soon as they wake and one in 10 have even peeked at their device when at the cinema – right in the middle of the film.
While 21 per cent simply can’t resist unlocking their devices when dining out to check for messages, social media posts and more.
Commissioned by AO-Mobile, the research of 2,000 smartphone owners found 58 per cent admit to being ‘too reliant’ on their phones.
The study also found those polled spend three hours and 25 minutes on their phone EVERY day – including 52 minutes looking at social media.
Richard Baxendale, managing director at AO-Mobile, said: “The last decade has witnessed the unprecedented technological uprising of the phone industry, to the point where these devices have become the predominant accompaniment and assistant to our daily lives.
“As their usage has become more widespread so has their functionality, and our hunger for more data to feed this functionality has only increased.”
The research also found the most popular use for modern mobiles is sending texts followed by making calls and wading in on WhatsApp conversations.
Browsing Facebook, watching TV and making video calls are also among the most common uses.
As a result, the average adult will burn through nine gigabytes of data each month.
It also emerged one in eight avoid the anxiety of running out of data by opting for an unlimited allowance as part of their phone plan.
The AO-Mobile study carried out through OnePoll also found sending messages is still king with 46 per cent predominantly tapping away at virtual keyboards.
And while the average Brit will make an average of 10 calls on their mobile each week, they will send 17 messages every day.
And 47 per cent admit they’d rather send a text over having a call, compared to the one in seven who prefer a chin-wag on the dog-and-bone.
Of those who would rather communicate by text, three in five prefer messaging as they can decide when to respond, and more than a third say speaking on the phone makes them feel nervous.
Richard Baxendale, from AO-Mobile, added: “Ten years ago the issue of mobile data management would have been an alien subject to most Brits, but for smartphone users on the go, data usage is a constant background thought.”
