MODERN technology is bad for us. Sitting in front of a computer all day, driving home by car, then slumping in front of the telly Royle Family-style with a high-calorie ready meal.

We are getting so little exercise that we're piling on the pounds - and, says a new lifestyle study by an American university - we're risking an early grave.

We're surrounded by high-tech gadgets to make our lives easier, but we could be knocking up to ten years off through taking so little exercise.

I'm as guilty as the next person. Getting up, driving to work, sitting in front of a screen all day, snacking at my desk, eating lunch in the canteen, driving home, lazing on the sofa, eating a meal, going to bed.

When someone called to see me at work this morning I spent a good 15 minutes waiting for the sluggish lift to arrive to transport me two floors.

I could and should have used the stairs, but that would have been too much effort. No wonder I'm double the woman I used to be.

In the days when I didn't have a car, didn't work from a desk and had a great social life that didn't involve the telly, I was trim, slim and capable of sprinting. Now I have respiratory problems climbing an escalator. Help could be at hand. The Association for the Study of Obesity wants to see us making use of our everyday gadgets to keep fit, like getting advice about healthy eating from the Internet and "cyber-slimming" support from web sites. And they are looking at what kind of gadgets that could be invented to encourage us to burn more calories in everyday life.

Personally, I can't see any straightforward advice helping - there's enough around already and we take little notice of it. But there are some measures we could introduce that I'm sure would be extremely effective.

Ban TV remote controls. I'm sure there are a lot of people who could lose up to a stone a week without their precious pingers.

Install a line of exercise bikes in places where lengthy queues are the norm like the post office. If you popped along on a busy lunchtime you could easily lose a couple of pounds.

Introduce supermarket skates: Roller or in-line skates could be provided for those who wanted to make every shop a supermarket sweep. Alternatively, why not give time limits to those doing their weekly shop. The larger you are, the shorter a slot you get - tubbies would have to tear round at a rate of knots.

Extend shoppers' loyalty point schemes to the store's car parks - the further away from the shop you park, the more you get, with a huge bonus for anyone who leaves their car at home.

Fix full-length mirrors along all the walls in fish and chip shops and other take-aways.

This would work for me. After a time, a great many people become oblivious to their growing bulk and there's nothing like an eye-opening shock to send them hareing for the Ryvita.

The best weight-losing gadget has to be the camcorder. Unbeknown to me, my husband recently filmed me on holiday wearing shorts and screened it last weekend in front of family and friends.

Wading along the shore, I'm surprised I wasn't harpooned. It's spurred me into making an effort to slim down.

Any gadget that shows an overweight person as the rest of the world sees them - that's what's needed.