Is your family The Jetsons, The Simpsons or The Beverly Hillbillies?

If you are a certain age, there are many things you take for granted. Flushing toilets. Electricity. Refridgeration. Running water. The telephone. For those under about 30, technology can be added to that list. For my children, for example, technology is as unremarkable as oxygen. It just….IS.

But different families have integrated technology into their lives in different ways. And in different amounts. For some, there is also a serious technology generation gap.

For a couple of weeks last year, I did some work with Optus as a spokesperson for their Family Communication Survey, the results of which divided most Australian households into three types.

See if you recognise yours……

1. The Jetsons (53 percent): all family members are tech-smart and regularly communicate internally and externally via SMS, email, mobile and social networking sites. Everyone in a Jetsons family has their own phone and computer and will often use them simultaneously or while watching TV. This describes our family pretty well although I’m not averse to asking my son to help me with tech things I can’t do like trouble-shooting my Bluetooth or operating our impossible TV remote controls.

2. The Simpsons (20 percent):  These families are characterised by parents who are slightly techno-phobic but believe their children to be well-versed in all things tech. 55 per cent of Australian kids out-smart their parents in technology knowledge before they’re 13 year old so they’re probably right. Most Simpson family members will have a mobile and there will be a computer and broadband in the house but Mum and Dad will mostly just text, email and do the odd bit of online banking.

3. The Beverly Hillbillies (3 percent). This family pays all its bills via cheque or at the post office, has no clue what Facebook or Twitter are and considers a cordless phone to be high tech.

So which one best describes your family and your relationship with technology?

We’re totally The Jetsons. Except when it comes to the remote controls for the bloody TV when I’m not even The Beverly Hillbillies. I’m The Flintstones.