Techno-addicts 'go up to 48 hours without speaking to another human'

London, Apr 30 (ANI): Technology-addicts often go 48 hours without talking to anyone in person, according to a new study.

A considerable three percent of adults fall into a so-called 'digitally dominant' group that mostly communicates via text, email or video calls.

It indicates that technology - from smartphones to iPads - is helping to kill off physical and social interaction among those obsessed with the devices, the Daily Mail reported.

Researchers for digital marketing agency dnx asserted that adults in the digitally dominant group are four times less likely to go to a shop than average.

Most Britons use digital technology but a majority do so in combination with real life interaction, like talking to friends in person, said dnx.

The researchers took into consideration 1,000 adults for the survey.

Nearly 16 per cent of Britons are 'digitally dominant' of whom 19 per cent are so ruled by technology they can go for two days without any 'verbal interaction', said dnx.

In other words, the only time they speak is if it is via technology but not only computers and phones.

This group is more inclined towards using an automatic barrier than a ticket collector at a train station or buy their lunch from a vending machine, for instance.

They hardly go out without both a mobile phone and a tablet computer, buy their food via the internet and are four times less likely to go to a shop than average.

"The digital revolution has given us all immense choice in the way we deal with situations from financial transactions to purchasing goods," Drew Nicholson of dnx said.

"But it should not be used to replace the art of conversation and human contact.

"There are a significant minority who are using the far-reaching benefits of digital as a substitute for real personal engagement," Nicholson added.

However, 17 per cent of those surveyed admitted that they are being left behind by the fast changing pace of technology, the survey discovered. (ANI)