We spend more time looking at our phones than with our partners

We now spend more time on our smartphones than with our partners, according to a new study.

The average smartphone user tends to spend two hours (119 minutes) a day using the gadget.

Yet, the amount of time we spend with our other halves per day is just 97 minutes ― a third less ― on average.

The study by mobile phone provider O2 looked at exactly what we use our phones for and how much time each activity takes each day.

Brits now spend 24 minutes every day browsing the internet - longer than anything else.

This was followed by checking various social networks (16 minutes), listening to music (15 minutes) and playing games (13 minutes).

Surprisingly, using our smartphone to make calls (13 minutes) and send texts (11 minutes) are the fifth and sixth most used functions on our mobiles.

However, chatting on the phone seems to have made a comeback as year on year figures show a 12 per cent increase in making calls.

And the same can be said for texting, as over the past year there has been a 13 per cent increase in people using their mobile to message friends.

What's more, the research reveals we are replacing many household objects as our smartphones do the same job.

As many as 57 per cent of us admit we have no use for an alarm clock anymore.

Meanwhile, half of us no longer wear a watch as we rely on our mobile to tell the time, and 46 per cent use only their phone to take photographs.

More bold moves include ditching a laptop in favor of using a smartphone (25 percent) and discarding a games console for a handset (12 percent).

The “Mobile Life” report, which was carried by O2 and electronics company Samsung, involved 2,000 adults.

David Johnson, from O2, said, “Smartphones are getting smarter all the time with huge leaps being made in technology. However, that's also meant we're now spending more time glued to the screen rather than gazing into our partners' eyes.”