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Technology 'Keeps Families Connected'

Web, cell phones improve communication, survey discovers

By Peter Fearon,  Newser Staff

Posted Oct 20, 2008 3:53 AM CDT
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(Newser) – Technology is bringing American families together in new ways rather than driving them apart, concludes a new study. Family members rely on cell phone calls, text messages, and emails to stay in touch several times a day, and watch YouTube videos together, using computers as a "virtual hearth," researchers found.

Among adults polled in the survey, 47% said that cell phones and the internet improved the quality of family communication, reports the Washington Post. "There had been some fears that the internet had been taking people away from each other," said a sociology professor and one of the authors of the study for the Pew Internet & American Life Project. "We found just the opposite."


A new study says new technology is bringing families closer together.
A new study says new technology is bringing families closer together.   (AP Photo/Ric Francis)
A new study says new technology is bringing families closer together.
A new study says new technology is bringing families closer together.   (Photo: Business Wire)
A new study says new technology is bringing families closer together.
A new study says new technology is bringing families closer together.   (AP Photo/Bob Child, FILE)
A new study says new technology is bringing families closer together.
A new study says new technology is bringing families closer together.   (AP Photo/Timothy Jacobsen)
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Internet brings families closer
Associated Press

Texting delivers family friendly message
USA Today

Networked Families
Pew Research Center

 
Internet • YouTube • cell phones • texting • computers • University of Toronto • Pew Internet & American Life Project • Blackberrys

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