Too much screen time, little socializing

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 20 (UPI) -- A growing number of parents are restricting their children's Internet time, much as parents have been restricting TV for the last decade, U.S. researchers say.

Researchers at the Center for the Digital Future at the Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism at the University of Southern California say parents have also become concerned a child's in-person friendships suffered with more time spent at the computer.

The researchers say their survey indicates more parents each year have been restricting their children's Internet use. This year, 57 percent of homes restrict their child's Internet use.

However, the majority of parents -- 69 percent -- reported their children spend about the right time on the Internet. Only 28 percent thought their children spent too much time on the Internet -- vs. 41 percent who thought their children's television time was excessive.

Overall, family face time has fallen from 26 hours per week in 2007 to just under 18 hours by 2010.

"We need to make sure families are reinforced rather than weakened in the digital future," Michael Gilber said in a statement.

Gilber and colleagues conducted the telephone and Web-based survey of 1,926 Americans age 12 and older in April 2010. The margin of error was 2 percentage points.