New Ofcom research reveals the extent to which the UK has become addicted to smartphones, with people confessing to using them everywhere from the dining table to the bathroom and bedroom.
Over a quarter of adults (27%) and almost half of teenagers (47%) now own a smartphone, according to Ofcoms latest Communications Market Report.
Most (59%) have acquired their smartphone over the past year and users make significantly more calls and send more texts than regular mobile users (81% of smartphone users make calls every day compared with 53% of regular users).
Teenagers especially are ditching more traditional activities in favour of their smartphone, with 23% claiming to watch less TV and 15% admitting they read fewer books. And when asked about the use of these devices, 37% of adults and 60% of teens admit they are highly addicted.
Over half (51%) of adults and two thirds (65%) of teenagers say they have used their smartphone while socialising with others, nearly a quarter (23%) of adults and a third (34%) of teenagers have used them during mealtimes and over a fifth (22%) of adult and nearly half (47%) of teenage smartphone users admitted using or answering their handset in the bathroom or toilet.
Ofcoms report also looks at the changes which have transformed the communications market during the last decade.
The majority of homes are now connected to the internet (25% in 2000, 76% in 2011) while nine out of ten people own a mobile phone (36% in 2000, 91% in 2011).
The majority of homes have adopted multi-channel TV (36% in 2000, 93% in 2010), 60% of households now own an HD-Ready TV and almost half (46%) have a digital video recorder (DVR).
The number of mobile voice minutes has grown by 250% over the past decade (from 35 billion to 125 billion per year), and the number of text messages sent has increased by 2000% (from 7 billion to 129 billion per year).
However, despite increasing use of the internet and an explosion in the range of communications devices, TV remains the nations most missed media, with viewing increasing by around 18 minutes over the last decade to just over 4 hours a day.
Click here to read the full report
Photo from Creative Commons: Flickr: Thomas
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