A recent study undertaken by the Barna Group has shown that it isn’t just kids and teens who are constantly plugged into their technology – their parents are too!
It is very interesting to note that parents in their 30s and 40s are shown to be the ones that head up families with the narrowest technology gap. They are using the internet, mobile devices, tech and gadgets as profusely as their kids.
Mums and dads have their noses in their Eee Pad Transformers or netbooks as often as their kids do, although they are not using them for the same reasons. Kids are more likely to use technology to listen to music, send texts and play videogames while their parents match them for watching TV and using the internet.
Obviously there are families, like mine, where the parents game as often (and with!) as the kids, but most parents are ensconced on the sofa, netbook on knee, surfing the web while their kids indulge in other online activities.
And the best part? The survey results aren’t pointing to a fractured family with rare interaction. Instead it showed that almost one third of parents believed technology had made their family life better, and almost half of tweens and teens think the influence is positive.
So next time you bury your nose in a game of Angry Birds, don’t feel guilty about it, ask your kids to snuggle up and join in…