The next time you catch yourself on a mobile phone ignoring your family during Christmas Lunch, take comfort in the fact that you're not alone.
Research from Telstra shows that Australians are set to download 900,000 gigabytes of data onto their mobile phones and make 600,000 overseas calls on Christmas Day alone. 
The phone and internet giant on Wednesday said it expected mobile broadband traffic to double compared to the same time last year as friends and family reached out using messages, pictures and videos this holiday season.
"The amount of data we predict to be downloaded is the equivalent of 800,000 hours of HD video in one day, which is a fair load for the network to carry," Telstra's director for wireless network engineering Channa Seneviratne??? said in a statement.
Telstra has also predicted that the number of traditional mobile services will continue to rise this year.
Analysts believe this is partly because the cost of making calls and sending messages has plummeted over the past 12 months as phone companies respond to rising levels of competition from technology giants like Skype and WhatsApp that offer free calls and messages to their users.
Australians are increasingly picking mobile plans with large mobile phone calls and text message allowances, essentially making them free.
"Phone calls from mobiles are expected to increase by 10 per cent compared to last year with an estimated 35 million calls expected to be made around the country," Telstra said.
"SMS messages are expected to remain popular, with a record 58 million messages expected to be sent on Christmas Day."
Australians are also predicted to continue the tradition of using Christmas as the one time of the year they lock in an overseas phone call to friends and family.
Vodafone Hutchison Australia said it expected a 40 per cent increase in international calls this holiday season while Telstra said the peak would take place on Christmas Day itself.
"Christmas Day is usually the biggest day of the year for international calls," Telstra said.
"[We] expect more than 600,000 calls to be made from fixed and mobile phones.
"New Zealand, the UK and the USA are the most popular international call destinations."