She points to two major reasons for this communication breakdown. First is a change in the workforce. A few decades ago the dinner table was a forum for family business and communication. Even when everyone is home, there are constant interruptions to meaningful communication. Urie Bronfenbrenner of Cornell has reported a forty-year decline in the amount of time children spend with their parents, and much of the recent loss is due to television.
TV sabotages much of the already-limited time families spend together.
After dinner, talk-starved families gather to watch congenial television families with good communication skills, like the Huxtables on the Cosby show. The greeting card business has developed a whole new product line for busy parents and children. The effect of time pressures on the family has been devastating. When both husband and wife work, maintaining a home and raising a family becomes difficult. In the increasing numbers of single-parent households, the task becomes next to impossible.