Don’t call me, I won’t call you

I assume that social and behavioural scientists will write volumes in the years to come about the effects of smartphones on society and relationships. The recent Deloitte's sixth annual Mobile Consumer Survey looked at the mobile phone habits of more than 4,000 UK consumers. Amongst its highlights being that one in three adults argue with their partner about using their mobile phone too much; about a tenth use their handsets ‘always’ or ‘very often’ while eating at home or in restaurants and a third while with friends or watching television. Interestingly, 31% of smartphone users make no traditional voice calls in a given week. This figure was just 4% in 2012.