Christmas wish lists of 2011 (for adults and children alike) were dominated with Xbox 360, Kinect Live, PS3, iPads (1 &2) - it's fair to say that technology was by far the front runner. Whilst this is not necessarily unusual and in many households expected, it did get the team here thinking about how and if  we still communicate as families.

The following conversation happened in a friends house;

Mum (shouting):Daniel, your tea is ready.

Son: Be down in a minute.

15 minutes later

Mum: Daniel, your tea is getting cold.

Daniel: Alright, be there in a second.

True to teenage form he eventually  surfaced. The difference here was that the conversation took place over Facebook messenger. Mum had tried shouting and got nowhere so gave in and jumped onto the iPad & messaged her son - finally she got a response.

So does this mean we speak to each other less? We did a mini-survey on Linkedin and the results actually showed that whilst social networking sites are great for keeping in touch with distant family, it can also enhance relationships with your children as you're communicating with them on their level and platforms that they understand.

http://goo.gl/49GM4

We'd be interested to hear your views on this, please feel free to leave your comments below.