Family Conversations More Likely To Include 'LOL' Than 'Pass The Butter, Please'

from the changing-times dept

Tue, Oct 2nd 2007 8:14am — Mike Masnick

While you need to take this study with a large grain of salt, since it was paid for by T-Mobile (who has a vested interest in the results saying what they say), it does have a ring of truth to it that parents and kids often find it easier to communicate these days using various electronic means of communications. Rather than spending quality time around the dinner table, the study suggests that more tech savvy parents (and grandparents) are able to not just stay in touch with, but relate to, their kids much better by using the same electronic communication tools those kids are used to using with their friends. There will be some, of course, who find this troublesome, but if it actually does allow for better lines of communication within a family, that certainly seems like a good thing.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: family conversations

11 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

tribster, 2 Oct 2007 @ 8:25am

I Wonder..
I Wonder How many times STFU is used.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Rebecca, 2 Oct 2007 @ 8:36am

Re: I Wonder..
lmao! thanks for that, it's funny
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Poomer, 2 Oct 2007 @ 8:56am

hmm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_death
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 2 Oct 2007 @ 9:08am

Rofl!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 2 Oct 2007 @ 9:35am

reading "OMG", "WTH" or even "STFU"/"FTSU" from non-tech-savy-grandma on my cellphone is absolute ROFL everytime! thanks t-mobile, for proving that old people still can make an ass out of themselves - even if they know they are intentional doing it or not.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Chronno S. Trigger, 2 Oct 2007 @ 10:06am

txt
"Grandma, who could you be texting?"
"IDK, My BFF Rose"

I have noticed that a lot of people have even started talking that way. I also have noticed that the people who have worked with computers for years have no idea what they are talking about.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
matt (profile), 2 Oct 2007 @ 10:41am

speak vs read
My parents are drastically opposed to technology, they barely use internet and can't troubleshoot their computers. However, I being the tech savvy person, still never says that stuff in public (any messaging program sure, but not verbally)

I don't think in any of the games I played I ever heard anyone speak it aloud in vent/teamspeak/etc
[ link to this | view in thread ]
r. lipschitz, 2 Oct 2007 @ 11:10am

Ahem, I think you have made a little logical mistake. Of course, even if the hypothesis is true that parents can more easily communicate with kids using electronic media, this certainly does not appear to be a "good thing" because it is the electronic media in the first place - as the main argument goes - that has rendered normal discussion non feasible.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Eric the Grey, 2 Oct 2007 @ 12:11pm

Re: I Wonder..
My niece uses WTF instead of actually using the words. I guess she thinks it'll keep her out of trouble by not saying fu**.

EtG
[ link to this | view in thread ]
barrenwaste, 2 Oct 2007 @ 1:12pm

My family still spends evey holiday together, all the aunts and uncles, neices and nephews, cousins, and that wierd couple that we really don't know how they are related to us. I'm 30 years old, and still get together with my brother, his wife and kid, and my mom and pops at least once a month for a sit down meal, cards, and a beer or two. It's not that electronic media is changing the family dynamic, it's just that sociatel mores are changing and the electronics businesses are capitalizing on the changes. People just don't care as much about family these days. Sad, but true.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
anonymous, 28 Jul 2009 @ 1:34am

that's funny
[ link to this | view in thread ]