In the past six years, landline use has halved and mobile calls have steadily increased, said regulator Ofcom.
It means each person is speaking on the phone for ten hours less than in 2012.
Over the same period, data usage rose ten-fold, partly due to chat services such as WhatsApp.
Ofcom found that younger people prefer to use messaging services rather than talking on their phones.
Ofcom said one 18-year-old from Aberdeen told them: “Calling someone is a bit daunting. It’s easier and quicker to WhatsApp my friends.
"If I have to call a company, I’ll try to use webchat if it’s available.”
Older people still prefer having a conversation.
A 68-year-old from Belfast said: “I prefer to speak to a person. You get a better understanding.”
In 2012, the UK had 103billion minutes of landline calls, but in 2017 that fell to just 54billion.
Mobile call minutes rose from 132.1billion to 148.6billion.
That is 32.5billion fewer minutes speaking on a phone in 2017 than 2012 — around ten hours less per person on average based on those aged over 12.
The average person’s monthly mobile data use has soared from 0.2 gigabytes to 1.9 gigabytes.
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