Phone beats home for the gadget generation
A new report, from The Co-operative Bank lifts the lid on modern family life in Britain, highlighting that one in five people (18%) now spend less than an hour a day with their families.
With these time pressures now increasingly a part of life, the report also reveals that in modern families communicating electronically has now overtaken the more traditional face to face communication. The research shows that the telephone is currently the most popular way of keeping in touch with close family, with phone conversations (78%) now slightly more prevalent than face to face conversations (77%).
The findings from the report - the second in The Co-operative Bank's Modern Family and Household Report series - also highlight that texting (52%), emailing (41%) ‘facebooking' (29%) or even ‘tweeting' (2%) to check how mum is are becoming increasingly common.
The fact that more remote forms of communication are increasing in popularity is perhaps not surprising given that over half of people (52%) believe work commitments are preventing them from spending quality family time together.
Other common barriers to family time revealed in the research include geographical locations (32%) money (23%) and lack of time (19%).
Top 5 barriers for family time
1 Work commitments (52%)
2 Geographical location (32%)
3 Money (23%)
4 Not enough time for themselves (19%)
5 Study commitments (13%)
The report also showed that nearly half (45%) of people surveyed expressed that they would like to spend more time with family members, highlighting the extent of the issue. People with young families were most affected, with 63% of people longing to see more of their children. However despite these barriers, Britain does remain a family orientated nation, with 71% prioritising family evening meals together, and over half of British families opting to holiday together.
The report also determines what activities do bring families together; suggesting that quality family time in day to day life is limited. The top ten activities for families in the UK included; spending Christmas day together (76%), eating evening meals (71%), watching TV (70%), going to restaurants together (59%) and holidaying together (56%).
Top 10 Family Activities/ Events
Spending Christmas together
Eating meals together
Watching TV together
Going to restaurants together
Holidaying together
Spending weekends together
Going to a family occasion together (i.e. wedding, funeral)
Visiting relatives together
Spending Easter together
Chatting/ discussing issues together
Zack Hocking, Head of Savings & Family at The Co-operative Bank, says: "With people working longer hours, and often working shifts or tackling a daily commute, it's easy to see how spending quality family time together is becoming increasingly difficult. Yet despite the average working day increasing, it's great to see that Britain is still a family orientated nation, with the majority wanting to see more of their loved ones. Families ideally need to be planning ahead so that they can have some quality time together."
Donna Dawson, a Psychologist, specialising in personality and behaviour also added, ""Shared family time offers emotional and psychological rewards. Partners need time with each other in order to strengthen their relationship, while children need time with their parents in order to mature into well-balanced adults. ‘Physical' time with each other - such as shared evening meal-times and Sunday lunch - is important because so much of our behaviour, values and personality is formed through interaction with our family. This time should be without the interruption of TV or other electronic devices. When work demands interfere with family time, the next best thing is a phone call, because at least the human voice is a reminder of physical presence."
The report also revealed some interesting regional statistics. Residents in the East Midlands are most likely to plan a family escape, whereas London appear to spend more time playing sport together, as well as spending more time together in religious worship.
Gender differences in family attitudes were also evident in the report with woman most likely to attend family occasions, such as a wedding or funeral, and with men most likely to socialise or go drinking with relatives. Astonishingly, the report found that men are 1% more likely to help out with household chores, but women are far more likely to cook.