1 in 3 people value their smartphones above their friends, study finds

There’s this hunk of plastic and silicon sitting on my desk right now that I’d hike a mountain to find signal for. Yes, it’s my smartphone. It’s such an integral part of my life, that if I lost it, I’d be pretty damn lost myself.

Security company Kaspersky, in a rather fitting study, noted that one out of three consumers feel the same, and are “willing to ditch their friends for their smartphone.”

The study was conducted at the universities of Würzburg and Nottingham Trent on behalf of Kaspersky. So the results are from people who likely know a thing or two about Instagram.

“An experiment, which asked participants to rate various people and objects in their lives in order of importance, has discovered that 37% of participants rate their smartphone as more, or equally, important as their close friends,” suggests Kaspersky in a press release.

If that’s not sad enough, 29% suggested that their smartphones are more important than their parents, while 17% suggested that the device is as important as their partners.

Astrid Carolus, a media psychologist at the University of Würzburg, explains these answers are trending positively towards our digital friends:

Our phones are an integral part of our lives, and this study brings psychological proof of this. Our friend-like connection with our smartphones means that we place an incredible degree of trust in an inanimate object – so much so, that we consider it a closer and more important element of our lives than many other people.

While Kaspersky was quick to point out that 93% of respondents were open to giving friends their pass codes, we’re just happy that at least some level of human interaction still takes place, even if it’s over a four digit number that could jeopardize their device’s security.

For a more granular look at the results, hit up this link.