According to a new survey conducted by Britain’s Tesco Mobile, the Apple smart phone is considered to be a more important invention than the toilet, combustion engine, and even birth control by British consumers.

The survey interviewed 4,000 consumers between the ages of 18-65, cataloging the one hundred top inventions in order of their reported level of importance. Inventions included everything from the technologically sophisticated-the satellite disk-to the functionally simplistic-the clothes peg.

Clearly, cell phones play a monumental role in our ability to communicate with others, organize and even entertain ourselves. But is slotting the iPhone above the steam engine and the car a realistic view of it’s importance? Brits certainly think so but I wonder how the same survey would fare across the pond.