New e-family stays connected - survey

New internet technologies like Twitter are strengthening family ties and bridging the generation gap between kids, parents and grandparents, according to a new survey.

The findings fly in the face of concerns the internet is driving a wedge between families and alienating parents from their kids.

According to the Norton Online Living Report, released today, tools like twitter, Facebook, Skype, webcams, photo and video sharing sites and instant messaging are keeping families connected.

The last 12 months have seen the emergence of a new social phenomenon identified as the "E-family", says David Freer, vice-president of Asia Pacific consumer business at Symantec, which commissioned the report.

The survey was carried out in 12 countries, including Australia.

"The E-family consists of a number of things, it's usually a strong family connection utilising the tools available on the internet," Freer says.

"One of the key things we are seeing is there is definitely an improvement in the connections people are making amongst their existing family.

"It's a lot easier to speak to grandparents, get them online, speak to that aunty you never get a chance to talk to, or the cousins."

Anne Harper, 64, lives in Bordertown in South Australia and has six grandchildren aged four to 20 spread across Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth.

She says she uses Skype, email, Facebook and instant messaging to stay in touch, chat with her grandchildren and get photos and family updates.

"I don't get to see the kids all that often so it's my best way of keeping in touch, and it's lovely for the grandchildren to know who you are instead of just a voice on the phone," she says.

"I'm going up to Brisbane in May and at least (the four-year-old) will know who I am when she sees me again, because it's about 18 months since I saw her last."

Harper says she's even taught herself to make DVDs with the photos she is sent, complete with music and a bit of nifty editing.

"A grandmother can never have too many photos," she says.

Freer says kids are leading the charge by inviting the older generation into their online world.

One in four (23 percent) Australian kids are "friending" their parents online and 22 percent use IM, social networking, texting and email to connect with their grandparents – the highest rate in the world.

"Kids are now ready to start instructing their parents how to use these tools. . . it's the kids that are leading the charge saying `look grandpa, why don't you get online, I'm there every day, I don't have to go down the south coast to come and visit you and keep you up to date with what I'm doing'," he says.

"Kids are now finding it's cool to have their parents friends with them, whereas what we were seeing last year, places like MySpace, Facebook were kids-only. . . domains.

"It's starting to morph into being more of an interaction between parents and kids. We think it's closing the generation gap."

But the generosity of kids could prove to be a double-edged sword, with increasingly techno-savvy parents getting better at following their child's online activities by watching online videos, photos and status updates as well as making use of Google.

"There's definitely been a big increase in parents trying to find tools to keep track of what their kids are doing," Freer says.

"Last year 25 percent of parents looked at what their kids were doing online and this year it's 37 percent of parents."

The report surveyed 9000 online adults and kids in Australia, the US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, China, Japan, India and Brazil about the impact of technology on relationships, parenting and security.

It questioned 6427 adults, including 1297 parents, and 2614 kids.

The internet is changing the nature of friendship and transforming traditional ways of maintaining friendships, David Freer says.

The Symantec survey showed that three in four people have met a friend they made online face-to-face.

"There used to be a stigma about online friends," he says.

"But more and more people are either friending existing friends online, or (reconnecting with) friends they had known and had lost contact with, or they're now meeting online friends in person."

The internet gives people a sense of connecting with friends they might not otherwise see.

"You can look up social networking sites like Facebook and find out quite mundane stuff that your friends are doing, but it just gives you that little connection – like you are talking to them every day without needing to have a half hour conversation," he says.

"The internet is actually making us more sociable – and that's one of the key things we're finding."

While the internet is opening lines of communication between parents and kids, there are also significant gaps, the survey found.

When Australian parents were asked how often they thought their kids were online per week, they estimated between one and 25 hours.

When kids were asked how much time they spent online the response was an average 50 hours.

"There's a big gap between what parents think their kids are doing online and what the kids are actually doing," Freer says.

He says parents said they knew what their kids were doing online 86 percent of the time, compared to children, who estimated their parents only knew what they were doing 65 percent of the time.

Those figures represent the biggest gap out of all countries surveyed, Freer says.

OTHER STATISTICS

– Seven in ten adults say the internet has improved their relationships

– 14 percent of people have rekindled romantic relationships online

– 71 percent say the internet makes it easier to stay in touch with family members

– 45 percent say the internet has improved their family relationship overall

– the E-family makes up 14 percent of the online population

- AAP