The family that techs together ...

The Pew Internet and American Life Project turns out a steady stream of studies on how North Americans are using technology. The latest report is based on a survey of more than 2,000 adults and it found that the traditional nuclear family is by far the biggest cell phone- and Internet-user group.

In fact, they are using these devices more than single adults or couples without children. The stats indicate that 89 per cent of married-with-children households own multiple cell phones, and nearly half own three or more mobile devices. Of this same group, 66 per cent have a high-speed broadband Internet connection at home, while 58 per cent have at least two home computers.

On all counts, these numbers put them above other groups of users.

So what are we doing with the technology? Well, it seems the family that techs together, stays 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 of the Pew Institute, who put together the survey.

For example, 70 per cent of couples talk on their cells at least once a day to say hello or keep up to date on family affairs. And 43 per cent of parents talk to their children at least once a day on the cell to keep in touch.

Kennedy also said, "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.'"

Most parents say there's much upside and little downside to the way new technologies affect them. And a quarter of parents feel their current family is closer than the family they grew up in. The majority, however (60 per cent), say technology has made no difference in the closeness of the family unit.

Prof. Barry Wellman of the University of Toronto, who was a study author, said, "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."

Web site of the Week:  www.Littlebigplanet.com and www.mediamolecule.com. This week marked the release of the new virtual world game, LittleBigPlanet. Here is the home site and the site of the company that created the PS3 game.

This Sunday, one of the stories on TECH NOW will be a look at work on a robotic eye for humans.