Observe any train carriage, bus, pavement, pub, burger bar, shop, someone will be texting or chatting or taking a photo. Brits are obsessed with their phones, to the extent that 90% said they couldn’t go a whole day without using their phone. Hour, more like.

The mobile phone can also act as a deterrent: 54% of females under 25 said they had used one when out alone to put people off from approaching them. 1 in 10 people have had their handset stolen; at the same time, nearly half said they would use their mobile to record a crime in progress. In related news, over half of mobile users aged 18-24 have used their phone to ask someone out (or be asked out) on a date, or exchanged sexually-explicit text messages. Only half agreed that flirting via text message (with someone else, presumably) would be a form of cheating on their partner. “It acts as a kind of subliminal zone, an exclusive forum where the normal social rules are suspended,” said Kate Fox, director of the Social Issues Research Centre.