Addicted to Your Smart Phone?: Tonight

Two thirds of people in the UK own a smartphone and a staggering 48% of people admit to being ‘hooked’ on their handset. For many, the thought of being offline would be too much to handle. Tonight, one self-confessed technology addicted family are challenged to ditch their devices for seven days.

Chef Justine, a mum of three, estimates checking her smartphone as frequently as every ten minutes. Chris, Justine’s husband, takes his laptop to the dinner table to catch-up on the latest sports news while eating. He says it’s an alternative to reading the newspaper, “as people used to in the olden days."

Daughter Millie, 19, documents her day-to-day life on Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat. She has admitted to messaging her mum from her bedroom to check what time dinner will be ready. For 18 year old Alex each day starts with the same routine; before getting out of bed she’ll first check all her social media. Christopher, 14, openly admits to gaming for 12 hours a day at the weekend.

Dr Nerina Ramlakhan works at a clinic with a dedicated technology addiction service.

Following the episode, Dr Nerina will be hosting a live Q&A on the Tonight Facebook page from 8pm, answering your questions on screen time dependency.

Vloggers Niki ‘n’ Sammy have 179,000 subscribers on YouTube and a combined 98,000 followers on Twitter. They’ve made a career from the opportunities technology has brought. Exclusively watch Julie meet the twins, discuss their life online and see how their viewers react when they upload a selfie with Julie.

Addicted To Your Smartphone? is on ITV at 7.30pm.