Social mobility

My chest swelled with something not entirely dissimilar to pride upon learning this week that tech-savvy UK citizens are light years ahead of other nations when it comes to using social networks on their mobile devices. Apparently.

According to research from TNS, 16 per cent of gadget-loving Brits access social media platforms in a mobile stylee every day. This sceptred isle is also ahead of rival nations when it comes to downloading apps (as performed by 31 per cent of mobile-owning UK residents), watching social videos (29 per cent) and downloading games (26 per cent).

But I was heartened to see that good old-fashioned British indifference hasn't died just yet, with more TNS stats suggesting we haven't really been swept up in the iPad hype. Just 17 per cent of us have any desire to buy a tablet computer in the next six months, compared with 28 per cent across Europe as a whole and 31 per cent in gadget-mad Asia.

Stephen Yap, group director of TNS Technology, said: "Brits' comparative scepticism when it comes to tablets affirms the pragmatic relationship between people in this country and their technology."

Not giving two hoots about the latest shiny, aspirational, bells-and-whistles wowbox? I guess you could call that a pragmatic relationship.