What price do you put on your smartphone?

New survey by mobile app developers Tappable has revealed one in ten millennials would rather lose one of their fingers, than give up their smartphone indefinitely. And a further 23% would even sacrifice one of their five senses.

The survey, conducted in June this year, polled more than 500 males and females aged between 18-34 years on what they would give up to keep their smartphones.

Almost a quarter (23%) of respondents also said they would rather lose one of their five senses – touch, smell, hearing, sight and taste, than their smartphones – with smell the most common sense to be sacrificed, polling at 64%.

Director of Research at The Center for Generational Kinetics, Mrs. Elli Denison, Ph.D, explained: “We talk a lot about how millennials are tech dependent. Losing a finger or one of the senses is an extreme way to frame it, but the bottom line is younger generations are completely immersed in technology, particularly mobile devices, and feel extreme dependency. There is no sign of this slowing down as younger generations are immersed in technology from birth.”

When asked what else they’d give up, 38% of millennials would give up drinking, 16% would stop travelling and 15% would give up sex.

One female respondent, who wished to remain anonymous said: “My phone is integrated into every part of my life. I couldn’t possibly live without it”.

Sam Furr, founder of Tappable, said: “Technologies close the gap on distant communities, creating a space that the younger generation can collaborate, interact and share. Something no other generation has experienced”.

The data was generally unaffected by gender, with the differences in responses being negligible, However, when it came to sex, only ten percent of male respondents chose their phone over sex, versus 18% of females.