Many of us spend a huge amount of our time glued to digital devices.

A recent study found nearly two-thirds of UK internet users said they are "hooked" on their devices.

The impact of using smartphones and tablets for a long period of the day is currently a matter for debate, but many people are reporting digital obsession as having negative effects on their life.

Now some people are attempting a 'digital detox' where devices are cast aside in an attempt to strike a better balance between technology and life beyond a screen.

Younger people are disproportionately affected, and many have grown up in a world where smartphones are ubiquitous.

STV found two 17-year-olds willing to try and tear themselves away from the digital realm to see what impact it had on their lives.

Finlay Rintoul and Hannah Wood are friends from Laurencekirk in Aberdeenshire. They agreed to forego the temptations of social media for 24 hours. One of them managed.

Finlay has just left school and currently works as a waiter. He says he spends much of his time checking social media. So how did he handle not being able to check what was happening?

"I found myself constantly reaching for my phone to look on social media as if it was almost part of me," he said.

"I got extremely anxious in case my friends were planning things without me or I'd miss anything important, which I didn't."

Hannah's digital-free day got off to a bumpy start, as she couldn't use her phone alarm. "I woke up without an alarm because I couldn't use my phone...but mainly because I have no idea how to use my clock. The one time that I can't check my phone was also the same time that my clock broke.

"Without being able to catch up with the social media world before getting out of bed, I found myself paying attention to the news on the radio when I ate my breakfast."

Both found the major issue was filling small windows of idle time

"I was at a friend's house and everyone was on their phones and I was just sitting there trying to find something to do to fill the need to go on my phone," complained Finlay.

For Hannah it was her breaks at work in a supermarket that really dragged without smartphone assistance. "My breaks at work seemed like the longest ever because all that I really had to focus on was my food. Instead of scrolling through my twitter feed, I spent most of the time reading the posters on the wall."

But she found the digital ban also has some unintended positive effects.

"I came home to watch Match of the Day without knowing the final scores like I usually do, which made it more exciting to watch...but I couldn't skip through just to watch the goals like I sometimes do. "

Fifty-nine per cent of British internet users consider themselves to be "hooked" on their connected device and a third said they find it difficult to disconnect.

The temptation to get back online became too strong for one of our test subjects, and he gave in to the dreaded Facebook photo tag notification.

"I did slip up because I was constantly getting Facebook notifications of photos I had been tagged in, and as I was at a party the night before the temptation was too strong to not look," said Finlay. "I wanted to make sure my photos were not embarrassing and that I looked good."

According to the report, British adults spend on average eight hours and 45 minutes on media and communications each day, so did Hannah and Finlay change their attitude to constant contact?

Hannah thinks that while she was glad to get back to her phone after a day in the dark about what was going on in the virtual world, there are some benefits to the social media blackout.

"Despite missing talking to my friends and worrying about the texts I'm not replying to, I didn't miss the aimless scrolling through the same posts on Facebook and Twitter.

"The occasional day without any smartphone or social media activity may be beneficial, but waking up the next day to lots of notifications and unread messages isn't the best. Instead of a complete detox, I think that using phones in moderation instead of constantly would be beneficial."

While the digital detox did not go exactly to plan for Findlay, he agrees there is life beyond a screen.

"I did feel lost without my smart phone as it is something I use daily for everything," said Finlay.

"I didn't find myself bored as such but I have realised my phone does fill in a lot of spare time as it is just there and can be used at any point."