Technology, Age, Social Isolation and Family Time

• In Event: 3523 - Family Section Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 min): Table 17: Time Use in Families

Abstract

In this paper, we use time-use data in novel ways to address important questions about recent trends in age, social isolation and technology use. Do new information, communication and robotic technologies contribute to growing social isolation or to growing opportunities for social connection? We believe that answers to these questions require a consideration of technologies that are already widely in use. We ask whether TV time is social time or whether people spend most of their time watching TV by themselves. We also document trends in total time spent alone, using data on time use in the UK over the period 2001-2015. This analysis provides an informative view of recent trends, and offer a baseline against which future developments can be measured. The results show that older adults (those aged 66+) spend considerably more time watching TV alone than do those in younger age groups, but there has been little change among the 66+ group in the 15 years examine in this study. Total time alone is also much greater among the 66+ age group. In contrast, among all other age groups, time spent watching television is increasingly spent alone; this trend is sharpest among those in the youngest age groups. And total time spent alone has increased for younger age groups, again with the sharpest changes among those at the youngest age groups. We consider the implication of these results for our understanding of technology, social isolation, and family time.

Authors

• Jerry A. Jacobs, University of Pennsylvania

• Allison Dunatchik, University of Pennsylvania