The explosion of interest in mobile messaging platforms has prompted heated competition to secure the largest and most loyal global user base. From LINE’s stickers to WeChat’s partnership with Lionel Messi, there’s a race to innovate, and fast.

In Spike Jonze's Her, protagonist Theodore Twombly converses with his operating system as though she was a real human. And while Her is set in the future, voice user interface is increasingly relevant to the streamlined design modern consumers have grown accustomed to.

From messaging to social media to a marketplace to browsing the internet, WeChat is the app the does everything. While Western companies and app developers race to unbundle their services into efficient single-purpose apps, WeChat continues to add feature after feature.

While WhatsApp wins over the West and WeChat conquers China, messaging app LINE has taken Japan by storm. With 400 million users worldwide, and 52 million in Japan alone, LINE's bright and vibrant customisable stickers are hugely popular – but can they really replace text?

Nearly 60% of Brazilians feel they aren't spending enough quality time with their family. Stories, fights and gossip were once shared around the dinner table, but now these interactions often happen over Facebook and email. Does the family that WhatsApps together stay together?

The Apple App Store houses over one million apps. Despite once trying to do everything, apps are now being split into single purpose platforms. But how do people actually use them? And which is more useful – the Swiss Army knife approach or a tailored, single purpose app?

Between 2009 and 2012, the number of teens who used their phones to talk every day dropped more than 50%, and a British study has found just 3% of Millennials use voice calling for daily communications. Cord is an app aiming to bring vocals back into digital communications.

Technology has become an unparalleled part of every aspect of our lives, dominating our work, our social lives, our hobbies and even our healthcare. But at what point does our changing relationship with technology become a problem? And how do we fix it?