The poll of 2,000 consumers found that 36% of people have lost ‘precious picture memories’ – 28% losing images after dropping and damaging their phones.

People risk losing their prized photos by not printing them, claims the survey conducted for SnapBox, a photo printing company which says many simply upload images to social networking sites instead.

The survey found that 28% of 18-24-year-olds store most of their images on sites such as Facebook and Instagram.

And 19% of people don’t display images at home ‘as they feel they have too many photos to choose from’.

Almost a third of British consumers (32%) admit they upload photos to social media platforms while on holiday, rather than waiting until they get home.