LOS ANGELES, Jun 19, 2009 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Internet-connected U.S. homes
report erosion of face-to-face family time and increased feelings of family
members feeling ignored, U.S. researchers said.
Researchers at the Center for the Digital Future at the University of Southern
California's Annenberg School for Communication report the percentage of people
who say they spend less time with household members since being connected to the
Internet at home had nearly tripled, from 11 percent in 2006 to 28 percent in
2008.
Michael Gilbert, author of "The Disposable Male" and a senior fellow at the
center, said diminishing family time coincides with the explosive growth of
social networks.
Total hours devoted to family socializing contracted sharply from 2006-2008.
Through the middle of the decade, reports of shared family time ranged from 22.6
to 29.8 hours. By 2008, shared time had dropped to 17.9 hours.
Almost half of the women said they are sometimes or often ignored, while 39
percent of the men reported being ignored.
In 2000, 11 percent of respondents said family members under age 18 were
spending too much time online, a concern that had grown to 28 percent by 2008.
The findings were developed through annual surveys conducted among 2,000 U.S.
households. The Digital Future Project provides a broad year-to-year exploration
of the influence of the Internet and online technology on Americans by examining
the behavior and views of a broad national sample of Internet users and
non-users.
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Copyright 2009 by United Press International