Technology binds us together
2008-10-20 21:28
San Francisco - Undermining widely held views about the divisive effects of the internet and cellphones, a new study claims that the use of modern communications devices is bringing families closer together by effectively turning them into online social networks.
The Pew Internet Report, which was released on Sunday, surveyed 2 252 traditional "nuclear families" and found that families compensated for the increased stress of modern life by using cellphone calls, e-mails, and text messages to stay in touch.
The poll found that 60% of adults said that the new technologies did not affect the closeness of their family, while 25% said cellphones and online communication made their families closer and 11% said that the technology had a negative effect.
Some 53% said that new technologies helped them stay in touch with distant relatives, while 47% said it improved their interactions with those they lived with. Another 47% said there was no effect, and 2% said there had been a decrease in quality.
"Some analysts have worried that new technologies hurt family togetherness, but we see that technology allows for new kinds of connectedness built around cellphones and the internet," said Tracy Kennedy of the University of Toronto who helped to write the Networked Families report.
The study also outlined the growing use of "love taps" - in which family members contact each other briefly throughout the day. Forty-two percent of parents with children aged 7 to 17 call them once a day or more on a cellphone, 35% keep in touch on a landline and 7% communicate by text, according to the poll.
It said both spouses and at least one child go online in 65% of married-with-children households. Fifty-eight per cent of married-with-children households contain two or more desktop or laptop computers.
The study also found that 51% of parents said they browsed the web with their children and that cellphones were found in 89% of nuclear families.
The new technology came at the expense of the old technology of television with 25% saying they now spend less time watching television and only 58% of 18-29 year olds saying they watched TV every day. - Sapa-dpa
- SAPA