CHICAGO – A recent survey of Chicago residents indicated many of them could go without sex, but don’t ask them to give up their cell phones.Commissioned annually by Samsung Mobile to evaluate the changing ways in which people relate to their cell phones, the email survey determined thirty percent of cell phone users would rather give up sex for a year than part with their portable communication devices.

According to a Samsung spokeswoman, the survey “is a lighthearted way to measure how engaged people are with their mobile phones and the many things they can do with them. A couple of years ago we asked about the cell phone versus chocolate. The cell phone won that year too. We thought we’d up the ante and see what the results would be.”

Samsung’s Kim Titus said the company emailed 300 people at random in September and asked about their mobile phone habits. More than half the respondents (169) were married; 121 were male and 179 were female.

To the question inquiring which they could do without — sex or their cell phone — 36 percent of women and 15 percent of men responded they would give up sex first.

Thirty percent of users of both genders said they rely on their phones more for texting than for talking. According to the survey results, the average Chicago cell phone user spends three hours daily texting, emailing or sending video or picture messages via the devices.

“I think we have created a technology that has created an evolution in the way we communicate,” Titus told the Chicago Tribune. “It goes back to the popularity of e-mail. You can text somebody, and when they see it they can answer whether you’re available or not. You improve efficiency in communication that way.”