Happy to be left to our mobile devices

Being constantly connected is essential for many people. Photo / Thinkstock

Feel like you can't live without your mobile? You're not alone.

A new survey, released yesterday, has found at least four in five Kiwis refuse to leave home without their smartphone in hand.

The survey, carried out by 2degrees on Facebook, asked 357 smartphone users about their cell phone habits.

Eighty-five per cent of people said smartphones had changed their "day-to-day" lives while 82 per cent said they wouldn't leave the house without the handy devices.

Tech-savvy Kiwis were also spending more time on their smartphones, with about two-thirds of participants clocking more than two hours usage each day.

Nearly 60 per cent of people also said they spent more time on their phones compared to six months ago.

A scenario testing who Kiwis preferred to stay in touch found most Kiwis would opt to call their partner first, if faced with a scenario of missed calls from their partner, mum, boss and friend.

Voice calling and navigation were the functions the most commonly used by participants.

And of the social networking sites, Facebook was the most popular, with 93 per cent of those surveyed accessing the site from their phones.

Of these, over a third said they checked it more than 10 times a day.

2degrees said the survey results followed on from technology research showing people would have 5 to 10 devices with internet connection by 2020.

"It's all about IOT or Internet of Things right now, which is adding connectivity and intelligence to just about every device," chief executive Stewart Sherriff said.

"2020 may sound a way off, but wearable technology is already here, we're selling smartwatches in every one of our 2degrees stores on high streets nationwide. Globally, 64 million smartwatches are expected to be sold by 2016 and forecasts are that the 'Internet of Things' will become a multi-billion dollar industry," he said.

Eighty-four per cent of survey respondents were aged between 18 and 50.