A recent survey found that smartphone owners are more likely to search the web than search for a book in the local library. What is more, users also appear to prefer surfing the web to surfing the waves.

Moreover, smartphones do not appear to be a device for making telephone calls either. In fact, one in five users admit that they make far fewer calls now than when they bought their smartphone. Also, a large percentage of respondents said that they also spend time going onto the internet from their handheld device while at work.

The research was carried out by the mobile phone web site Recombu.com, which found most people (out of 2,000 people surveyed) generally now prefer to use the internet to make friends, go shopping, and use social media sites.

Hannah Bouckley, editor of Recombu.com, said: “Mobile internet access is a key part of everyday life for many of us, so much so that it is hard to imagine a time without it. As the technology continues to develop we will no doubt become even more reliant on the options it offers us. Boredom really is a thing of the past now we have a world of information available to us at the touch of a button.”

Even TV watching has dropped, with 22% saying they prefer to search the internet. 11% say that they no longer do any form of exercise, or at least do a lot less than they did.