Want to be happy? Just switch off your phone, says expert

• Professor Paul Dolan said iPhones and tablets distract us from our loved ones
• He warned people could suffer 'mental illness' unless they 'put them down'
• In a talk on happiness he also said the married and religious are generally happier
• Men in their 40s are among the most unhappy, he said

The secret to happiness lies in turning off your mobile phone and concentrating on your friends and family rather than text messages and emails, an expert on happiness has said. Professor Paul Dolan, of the London School of Economics, believes that the popularity of iPhones and other smart phones has seen people constantly having their attention drawn away from their nearest and dearest and to the devices instead.

He warned that unless people changed their behaviour, they could suffer mental illness as a result.
He told an audience at the Hay Festival - a celebration of culture and social responsibility - in Cartagena, Colombia that there are also now mental conditions called internet addiction and Phantom Vibration Syndrome - where you have a phone in your pocket and you think you have got a text message but have not.

He said: 'We're constantly having our attention distracted and distraction is a cost.

'When you switch tasks it requires attention. Paying attention to what you're doing and who you are with and turning your phone off and enjoying being with your friends is much better for you than constantly checking your phone and checking emails', The Telegraph reports.

Prof Dolan was once a member of the Cabinet Office's Behavioural Insight Team – or Nudge Unit.  It was set up to suggest small ways that people could change their way of life to improve it. He said the solution could lie in introducing small changes to the environment in which people use their mobile phones.