I really don’t see how this could be surprising to anyone, but apparently there’s some new research coming out this week that says Internet users are spending less time with their families.

According to the Associated Press, the Annenberg Center for the Digital Future at the University of Southern California is reporting week that 28 percent of survey participants said they have been spending less time with family members. Only 11 percent said the same thing three years ago.

Michael Gilbert, a senior fellow at the center,said the findings come at the same time social networks like Facebook and Twitter are surging in popularity.

“Most people think of the Internet and (our) digital future as boundless, and I do too,” Gilbert said.

But, he added, “it can’t be a good thing that families are spending less face-to-face time together. Ultimately it leads to less cohesive and less communicative families.”

So what’s the cost here to our families and our society? Is the Internet to blame? If it were out of the equation, would these people find something else to occupy their family time?

This reminds me of a story from my own life. Several years ago, I was playing an online role playing game called Everquest. You can make lots of friends in these games. And you can waste lots of hours there. Well, one night, I was online with some friends, when one of our buddies comes on and announces that he has some good news.

“I’ll be able to spend a lot more time with you guys,” he said. “My wife and I are getting divorced.”

In the years that have passed since then, I’ve often found myself wondering what role his fellow gamers (and the game itself) played in the end of his marriage. Surely he and his wife had other problems. But could they have worked through them if he’d torn himself away from the game a little more often?