Households with a married couple and minor children are more likely than other household types to have mobile phones and subscribe to the Internet, according to data released in October 2008 by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.
Nearly nine out of 10 married-with-children households surveyed owned multiple mobile phones, and nearly one-half owned three or more. Two-thirds of such households had broadband at home. The national average for all households is 52%.
Many of the families Pew surveyed used their mobile phones to keep in touch: 70% of couples in which both partners owned a mobile phone contacted each other daily to say hello or chat, and 42% of parents contacted their child/children every day by mobile phone.
“Some analysts have worried that new technologies hurt family togetherness, but we see that technology allows for new kinds of connectedness built around mobile phones and the internet,” said Tracy Kennedy, author of the report, in a statement.
Broadband ownership by family households is higher than for the general US population, according to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). The ITU said that in 2007, just under 20% of US individuals subscribed to broadband.
In comparison, Pew found 55% of nonmarried couples with children and two-thirds of married couples with children had broadband at home—a figure for households, not individuals.
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