San Francisco  - More and more of America's Internet- connected households report erosion of family time and increased feelings of being ignored by family members using the Web, according to a report released Tuesday.

The study by the Center for the Digital Future at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication found that the percentage of people who say they spend less time with household members since being connected to the Internet at home had nearly tripled, from 11 per cent in 2006, to 28 per cent in 2008.

At the same time shared family time dropped by 30 per cent from an average of 26 hours per month to just 17.9 hours. Reports of feeling ignored, at least sometimes, by family members using the Internet grew by 40 per cent over the same period, the study found.

Researcher Michael Gilbert said diminishing family time coincides with the explosive growth of social networks and the importance people place on them, suggesting increasing technological pressures on the family structure.

Gilbert said the threat of the internet to family structures appears stronger than past technologies, like the telephone and television.

"The Internet delivers an engrossing interactive universe into our homes and demands much greater individual commitment. This can play havoc with our personal boundaries," he said. "The family is our social foundation, society's basic building block. We need to guard its health in what otherwise seems to be a boundless digital future." (dpa)