Far away and in touch

South African families who are living far away from each other are using the Internet to bond on-line. A world-wide survey conducted by Microsoft, found that instant messaging (IM) is so popular in South Africa that parents, siblings and even grandparents are using IM over e-mail, social networking posts, letters and text messages. A growing number of digital parents and grandparents regularly use the service to keep up with their kids. Families may be living further apart but they are not growing apart. According to the study more than a third of South Africans polled admitted to spending over 10 hours a week on IM; almost a quarter message their parents several times a week; and family squabbles happen just as easily on-line. The survey was conducted on a Pan-European basis across Austria, Finland, Portugal, Switzerland, Ireland, Turkey, South Africa, Bulgaria, Greece, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania. It was conducted during the month of April 2008. Respondents were both male and female and ranged from teens up to 60 + years of age.