Cellular phones and emails have made telling little white lies more convenient than ever.

Research done by British pollsters, 72 Point, found that 'digi-lying' was quite widespread with nearly 75 per cent of respondents saying gadgets like Blackberrys made it easier to lie.

The findings of the research conducted in the United Kingdom were released last week. It showed that four out of five people admitted to telling little white lies at least once a day using cellphones, texts and emails.

About half of the respondents said using gadgets made them feel less guilty when telling a lie than doing it face to face.

Workplace a favourite spot

The workplace was a favourite spot for fibbing with 67 per cent of the 1,487 respondents admitting they had lied at work.

The most common lie was pretending to be ill (43 per cent) followed by saying work had been completed when it really hadn't (23 per cent). Eighteen per cent said they lied to hide a major mistake.

But bosses aren't the only ones being lied to. Just over 40 per cent said they had lied to a family member or partner. Key topics to lie about were buying new clothes or the cost of them (37 per cent) and how good someone looked in something (35 per cent).

The survey found that while people were dishonest, most told lies with the best intentions and to spare others' feelings.

But even so, with high-tech gadgets on the top of many Christmas shopping lists in Jamaica last year, maybe one should start looking at those text and email messages a little more closely.