According to a recent survey Britain waste £52 billion every year on gadgets they cannot operate properly, items such as mobile phones, HD ready TV’s and other household appliances.

The nationwide survey that polled 3,000 consumers found that although most traditional items were put to good use such as microwaves and washing machines, over half of the functions on higher tech gadgets were not used. An average of £3,065 was spent each year on electronics. The poll – conducted by Stuff magazine – found a massive gap between spending and usage.

Now the reason behind this could be a fault that I certainly have, which is I never read the instructions whether it’s a new mobile phone, or a new DVD player, I will fiddle and play around for a while then get bored. Half of the people who took part in the survey didn’t realize that to have a HD TV you needed a HD set-top box to see the benefits. Two per cent even believed you needed to be born with HD Ready eyesight to watch the new format.

Click here to read more on this story. Do you read the instruction when you get a new gadget? Let us know your thoughts.