I read an article recently by the Associated Press about how family time in the United States is dwindling. According to a study by the Annenberg Center for the Digital Future, "28 percent of Americans interviewed last year say they have been spending less time with members of their households. That's nearly triple the 11 percent who said that in 2006."
The article continues, "The decline in family time coincides with a rise in Internet use and the popularity of social networks. Facebook has more than 200-million users, up from 100-million last August."
Think about it. When was the last time you had a conversation of any length or meaning with the people you live with? I get more information from my teenaged son in a text message than I do a dinner appearance. Does that mean someday we will sit across the table from one another, speechless, while our fingers do the talking with "friends" across the world?
Quoting the AP article again, Michael Gilbert, a senior fellow at the Annenberg Center, said, "Most people think of the Internet and our digital future as boundless, and I do too. But it can't be a good thing that families are spending less face-to-face time together. Ultimately it leads to less cohesive and less communicative families."
Time to tame the technology.
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