Research by U of T sociologist and colleague offers insights
The internet and cell phones have become central components of modern family life. Among all household types, the traditional nuclear family has the highest rate of technology usage and ownership.
A national survey of 2,252 adults by the Pew Internet & American Life Project has found that households with a married couple and minor children are more likely than other household types -- such as single adults, homes with unrelated adults, or couples without children - to have cell phones and use the Internet.
- 89 per cent of married-with-children households own multiple cell phones and nearly half own three or more mobile devices.
- 66 per cent of married-with-children households have a high-speed broadband internet connection at home, well above the national average for all households of 52per cent.
- Both spouses and at least one child go online in 65 per cent of married-with-children households.
- 58 per cent of married-with-children households contain two or more desktop or laptop computers.
The survey shows that these high rates of technology ownership affect family life. In particular, cell phones allow family members to stay more regularly in touch even when they are not physically together. And many members of married-with-children households view material online together.
"Some analysts have worried that new technologies hurt family togetherness, but we see that technology allows for new kinds of connectedness built around cell phones and the internet," noted Tracy Kennedy, author of a new report about the survey called Networked Families. "Family members touch base with each frequently with their cell phones and they use those phones to coordinate family life on the fly during their busy lives."
- 70 per cent of couples in which both partners own a cell phone contact each other daily to say hello or chat; 54 per cent of couples who have one or no cell phones do this at least once a day.
- 64 per cent of couples in which both partners own a cell phone contact each other daily to coordinate their schedules; 47 per cent of couples who have one or no cell phones do this at least once a day.
- 42 per cent of parents contact their child/children on a daily basis using a cell phone, making cell phones the most popular communications tool between parents and children.
Kennedy added: "We were surprised to see that lots of families treat the internet as a place for shared experiences. They don't just withdraw from the family to their own computer for private screen time. They pretty regularly say, 'Hey - look at this!' to others in the household."
Some 52 per cent of Internet users who live with a spouse and one or more children go online with another person at least a few times a week. Another 34 per cent of such families have shared screen moments at least occasionally.
Overall, respondents in this survey see much upside and little downside in the way new technologies have affected the quality of their communications with others.
Asked if the Internet and cell phones had made family life different for their current family compared with the family in which they had grown up, 25 per cent said their family today is closer than their family when they were growing up, 11 per cent said their family today is not as close as families in the past, and 60 per cent said that new technologies have not made their family any more or less close than their family in the past.
However, the benefits of the internet and cell phones are somewhat counterbalanced in some families by their contribution to the speed of modern life and their role in blurring the lines between "work" and "home" life. Some 11 per cent of employed internet users say the internet has increased the amount of time they spend working from the office, and 19% say it has increased the amount of time they spend working from home.
"Families are becoming networks," argued Barry Wellman, a University of Toronto sociology professor and an author of the study. "Each household member can be her own communications hub and that changes things inside and outside the household. Family members are neither isolated individuals nor traditional actors in Fun with Dick and Jane homes. Rather, their households are active sites of the interplay of individual activity and family togetherness."