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Is Technology Bringing Families Closer Together?

New survey shows Internet, cell phones influencing families' daily lives

October 22, 2008
A motto for modern life may well be "The family that texts together, stays together." Technology now permeates American households and has become a central feature of families' day-to-day lives, according to a report by the Pew Research Center for People and the Press.

"American families are using a wide range of communication media to keep in contact with each other," the authors write. "Married couples with minor children stand out because they have higher rates of Internet and cell phone usage, computer ownership and broadband adoption than other household configurations."

For today's married-with-children households, the study finds that ownership of multiple gadgets and communication tools is a standard feature of family life:

Fifty-eight percent of those living in married-with-children households own two or more desktop or laptop computers. Nearly two-thirds of those living in multiple-computer households link those computers in a home network.

Both spouses use the Internet in 76 percent of married-with-children households, as do 84 percent of their children aged 7-17. Indeed, 65 percent of married-with-children households with a child between the ages of 7-17 contain a husband, wife, and child who all use the Internet.

Eighty-nine percent of married-with-children households own multiple cell phones, and nearly half own three or more mobile devices. Children in these households are somewhat less likely to own a cell phone than they are to go online: 57 percent of these children, aged 7-17, have their own cell phone.

Is this a good thing or a bad thing? While some commentators have expressed fears that technology pulls families apart, this survey finds that couples use their phones to connect and coordinate their lives, especially if they have children at home.

American spouses often go their separate ways during the day, but remain connected by cell phones and to some extent by Internet communications. When they return home, they often have shared moments of exploration and entertainment on the Internet, the report finds.

Beyond that, the authors say this new connectedness via cell phone and screen-sharing is correlated with some benefits for family life. For example, those with the most technology are more likely to share moments with family members while they are online and to exchange some kinds of family communications such as checking in with other family members and coordinating activities.

At the same time, this is a different kind of connectedness from the past because those who have the most technology are more likely to live in dual-income households and also more likely to report that they are working longer hours, in part because of their use of the Internet.

Those with multiple communication devices are somewhat less likely to eat dinner with other household members and somewhat less likely to report high levels of satisfaction with their family and leisure time than are families with lower levels of technology ownership.

The study finds there has been a major swing to cell phone use among American couples--more use a cell phone to be in touch daily than a traditional landline phone.

Some 47 percent of married couples contact each other once a day or more using a cell phone, and 35 percent do so using a landline phone. Couples use communication technologies such as the Internet and cell phones primarily to say hello and chat and to coordinate schedules and daily routines when they are physically separated.

Cell phones also seem to increase the frequency of certain kinds of communications between couples. Compared with less tech-heavy households, married couples in which both partners go online or use a cell phone contact each other more frequently than couples who have less technology.

Seventy percent of couples who both own a cell phone contact each other once a day or more to say hello or chat. 54 percent of couples who have one or no cell phones do this at least once a day.

Sixty-four percent of couples who both own a cell phone contact each other at least once a day to coordinate their schedules. 47 percent of couples who have one or no cell phones do this at least once a day.

Parent-child communications, particularly on a daily basis, are similarly dominated by the telephone. 42 percent of parents contact their child/children daily using a cell phone, and 35 percent do so using a landline telephone.

How do family members view technology and its role in family life? While new communication technologies have increased the amount of time some people spend at the office or working from home, few people see them as having a negative impact on family closeness.

"Indeed, 25 percent of our survey respondents feel that their family today is now closer than their family when they were growing up thanks to the use of the Internet and cell phones, while just 11 percent say their family today is not as close as families in the past," the authors conclude.

A majority of adults downplay the impact of technology entirely, with 60 percent saying they feel that new technologies have not made their family any more or less close than families in the past.

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