Phone calls a thing of the past as Britons use smartphones for everything but phoning...

Conversations over the phone have become a thing of the past for many Brits, with one in four adults now almost never using their smartphone to make a traditional call, according to a report.

Accountancy firm Deloitte, which surveyed 4,000 adults in the UK, found that 25 per cent of those that owned a smartphone had not used it to make a call over their mobile network in the last week.

This represented a steep decline from three years ago, when just 4 per cent of smartphone owners had not used it to make a call. The same period has seen a surge in the popularity of messaging services and social networks, such as WhatsApp and Facebook.

Deloitte warned that the decline of voice conversations, which is particularly prevalent among those in their teens and twenties, may have a damaging effect on interpersonal skills and job prospects.

 While the research did not include landline telephones, and suggested the decline in traditional mobile calls was being somewhat offset by internet phone call services like Skype, it showed that for many people, speaking over the phone is becoming far less frequent. Full story...

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