Mobile technologies and social media have led to social skills and manners being worse than ever, according to a survey released by mobile phone comparison site omio.com
Those who engage in frequent mobile phone use are becoming ever more impolite. Out of a survey of 1,035 people over half admitted they would happily answer their phone while making a purchase in a shop, 41 per cent while eating at a restaurant and 10 per cent while in a library.
Social networking sites are damaging the nation's social skills, according to the survey. Websites such as Facebook and Twitter mean that normal face to face conversation is now becoming a thing of the past, say researchers, with nearly half of those questioned stating that they felt less confident communicating in person. Many of those questioned said they had friends they rarely saw in real life, despite them living nearby, preferring instead to communicate with them online.
The workplace is becoming even more impersonal, many people preferring to email than speak to someone within earshot, the survey found.
"There's clearly a danger that as we become more reliant on connecting through technology, we start to become more and more disconnected from each other," said Ernest Doku, a mobile phone expert with Omio.
However, the researchers were also quick to point out that modern technology brought many benefits, enabling friends and relatives who lived in different countries to communicate more easily and cheaply.
By Hunter Skipworth
