Surprisingly, the study discovered that parents are more active on the computer than non-parents. Parents will use their Facebook and Twitter to play their games and keep in touch with friends much more than people without children. I'm sure that most people are surprised to learn of this since I assumed that non-parents would have more time to visit social networking sites.
I can't personally comment on the fact that I use the Internet more often as a parent than I did when I did not have kids since the Internet was introduced when I was a parent. It makes sense though that parent may spend more time on the computer since kids are at home. This gives the parents time to social network since they are in the household. Non-parents may be out doing things and therefore, not being captivated or influence of using a computer.
One final entry was a bit scary in the article. I'd like to mention it here. It is stated that adults have found that social networking sites are so important to them that they spend around 1/4 of their time on them. Not good for the mental or physical health
Sounds like an interesting article! I am not a parent myself, however, both of my parents both actively use their Facebook accounts. I can't say that they use their Facebook more than I do, ecause I Facebook pretty regularly... but they definitely do Facebook more than the average adult their age. It's funny to me because sometimes I hear them asking eachother if they saw what so-and-so posted on Facebook... but at the same time I think it's a good way for them to keep in touch with family and old friends. Also, just to touch up on another reason why parents may use social networks more often than non-parents... I think a lot of parents also use social network sites to monitor what their own kids are posting.
ReplyDeleteIt's weird to think that parents use social media sites more than non-parents, but I guess in a way it makes more sense. When you're a parent, you have less free time because you're busy working or taking care of the kids. It's too hard to have a social life (not impossible, of course) since you're here and there then home and tired. So, what better way to keep in touch with your friends and family than through social media. And why not tweet about what you're doing instead of having to go through the longer process of calling someone. I'm not a parent, so I'm no expert, so I'm just assuming. I would suggest though that parents who do spend a lot of their time on social media to find a babysitter and go out and enjoy themselves!
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