Technology Brings Families Together

A new study has found that technology is helping families maintain social ties — and families use technology more than others.

Families and technology go together, according to a new report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project that took information from 2,253 Americans.

In fact families are among the most eager users of technology, with Web browsing popular, as 51% of parents browsing online with their kids.

More traditional nuclear families tend to have no technology in the home than other groups, the survey found, with 66% having a broadband connection (compared to the national average of 52%), and 89% having multiple cell phones. 70% of couple with cell phones use them daily, and 42% of parents contact their children by cell every day.

53% of people agree that new technology has increased their contact with distant family members and 47% say it has improved the interactions among those they live with. Family together time can often be an online experience, with a drop in television viewing.

Tracy Kennedy of the University of Toronto, co-author of the report, told the BBC:

"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."