{"id":42344,"date":"2006-05-09T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2006-05-09T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/2006\/05\/09\/calling-mom-on-mothers-day-and-the-day-before-and-the-day-after\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T03:31:50","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T08:31:50","slug":"calling-mom-on-mothers-day-and-the-day-before-and-the-day-after","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/social-trends\/2006\/05\/09\/calling-mom-on-mothers-day-and-the-day-before-and-the-day-after\/","title":{"rendered":"Calling Mom on Mother\u2019s Day. And the Day Before. And the Day After."},"content":{"rendered":"

If form holds, Mother’s Day will once again be the busiest Sunday of the year for telephone volume. But the traditional holiday phone call to mom may not have the pop it once had – not because fewer sons and daughters remember to call, but because more are already talking to mom every other day of the year.<\/p>\n\n

\"Figure\"<\/figure>\n\n

A recent Pew Research Center survey found that 42% of adults say they see or talk with a parent (usually, it’s mom) every single day. Back in 1989, just 32% of adults said this.[1. Percentages based on those with at least one living parent.]<\/p>\n\n

This rise in daily communication between adult children and their parents is a byproduct of a modern communication revolution that has made phoning less expensive and more convenient, according to a recent Pew Research Center report. (Read the full report<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n

\"Figure\"<\/figure>\n\n

Back in 1989, when long distance telephone calls were more costly and cell phones were exotic devices, just 8% of adults maintained daily contact with a parent or parents who lived in a different town. Today, nearly triple that number – 22% – do.<\/p>\n\n

There has also been a smaller – but not statistically significant – increase in daily contact among adult children and a parent or parents who live in the same town. As of 2005, 56% of adults living in the same town as their parent or parents, reported that they saw or talked to such a nearby parent every day.<\/p>\n\n

One thing is clear from the Pew survey: mothers sit at the epicenter of most families’ communication network. Among adults with both parents living, the Pew survey found, people are much more likely to have the most contact with mom (61%) rather than dad (18%), with the remainder volunteering equal contact with both.<\/p>\n\n

The Pew survey also found:<\/p>\n\n