Friday 10 May 2019 12:41 pm | Updated: Wednesday 05 June 2019 9:01 am

Shut it, Siri: Most of us are really rude to our smart speakers

The majority of people using smart speakers in the UK are rude to the devices designed to help them, a new study has revealed.

The virtual assistants can relay information about the weather, latest news, traffic and a lot more, and are now used by 11 per cent of Britons – and counting.

But 55 per cent of people using the likes of Siri, Alexa or Google Home talk rudely to their device, a Yougov survey found.

In fact, seven per cent of people admit to "always" or "often" talking in a disrespectful way to their voice-activated assistant, although 45 per cent denied ever talking down to them.

The evidence that not everyone is rude to their robotic aids was further highlighted by the fact that 80 per cent of people claim to say "please" and "thank you" during an exchange.

It was women who were more often polite, with 45 per cent saying they always use such phrases, compared with just 30 per cent of men, despite the fact women are less often understood when talking to their smart speakers.

The reason for the majority of people's bluntness during a conversation with their devices was because they felt that social niceties should not extend to them.

Only 38 per cent of people found it important to talk to the assistant in the same way as you would speak to a real person, while 58 per cent said it was not "very" or "at all" important.

Once again, in YouGov's study of 1,000 smart speaker owners, females were kinder with 45 per cent wanting to extend social niceties to their devices compared with just 32 per cent of males.