Never mind the booze - the most important person this Christmas is the dad who can make the gadgets work

The so-called Technoël, the person designated to set up all the technical gadgets in the family’s stockings, is now rated as more valuable than even the uncle who brings the booze.

The typical tecchie isn’t a spotty teenager, but a dad aged around 40, says the survey by eBay.

Yorkshire families get £206 of technology on average, which takes at least two hours to set up, eBay says.

During that time, technically-minded dads are most likely to want to keep annoying family members away, and then be given a quiet space.

More than eight in ten people said they found it frustrating when the technology failed to work straight away out of the box.

Women admit to being more irritated than men when tech products don’t work straight away (67pc versus 57pc of men) and rate the Technoël as critical on a scale of importance (33pc vs 22pc of men).

The Technoël is considered more important than the people organising the games, those running the Christmas playlist, and even those handing out the presents. The only two roles ranked higher in the poll were the cook and the “festive cheerleader”.

Tom Sheppard, head of electronics at eBay UK, said; “Tech has never been bigger. Last Christmas we sold 4,300 headphones a day in the build up to Christmas and 330 mobiles and smartphones every hour.

“The Technoël role has never been more important, and that’s why this year we’re encouraging Brits to look after their nominated person, giving them the space, motivation and equipment they need so that Christmas Day festive cheer lives long into the night.”

Who’s most important in the house this Christmas?

1) Cook

2) Festive Cheerleader

3) Technoël

4) Booze Bringer

5) Gift Distributor

6) Cleaner Up

7) Last Man Standing

8) Pace Maker

9) Games Guru

10) Playlist Decider