Mobile phones have made people less organised and more willing to be late when meeting their friends, according to a survey.

Nearly one in five people admitted to being unreliable about timekeeping because they had the "safety net" of a mobile. Three quarters said mobiles had made them more "flexible" when meeting friends - allowing them to arrange or cancel social gatherings at the last minute.

Many said that text messaging and e-mails let them be in contact with more people and "manage" their relationships more easily, while one in five said it had improved their confidence about approaching the opposite *** for dates.

The findings came from a study of 1,000 adults and was carried out by Intel.

Seventy-five per cent of people said they were more "spontaneous" with their social lives thanks to mobiles and a similar number said they knew far more about what was going on in their friends' lives because of e-mails and text messages.

Chris Hogg, Intel's UK director of marketing, said: "Consumers increasingly see technology as part of the DNA of their lifestyles."

The survey also showed that people spend nearly as much time on the internet as listening to music and radio.

They spent an average of 11.4 hours a week online, 12.6 hours listening to music and radio and 19.8 hours watching television.