Textingon the move may sometimes be essential, but be warned, it turns your gait into an ungainly lollop, scientists have found.

Researchers from Anglia Ruskin University found texters adopt a cautious and exaggerated stepping strategy to avoid tripping over hazards.

Subjects were fitted with eye trackers to record where they looked and motion analysis sensors to record how they walked as they used a phone while negotiating a floor-based obstacle similar in height to a roadside kerb.

They found all phone use, whether texting, phoning or scrawling through contacts, causes users to look less frequently and for less time at the obstacle on the ground.

They adopt a cautious strategy, it said, which involves lifting their lead foot higher and slower over the obstacle to reduce the risk of tripping.

Lead author Dr Matthew Timmis, senior lecturer in sport and exercise science at Anglia Ruskin, said: “We found that using a phone means we look less frequently, and for less time, at the ground, but we adapt our visual search behaviour and our style of walking so we're able to negotiate static obstacles in a safe manner.

“This results in phone users adopting a slow and exaggerated stepping action. Our findings indicate that phone users adopt a cautious approach when faced with fixed objects on the ground.