Poll finds dinnertime tradition lives even in digital age

WASHINGTON -- A new survey suggests the tradition of a family dinnertime survives in America, though with a side order of modern distractions.

An Associated Press-iVillage Food poll on dinnertime habits finds that 60 percent of those surveyed who live with their families say they sat down to a family dinner at least five nights in the past week. Home-cooked meals were the norm, not just takeout and the like.

But the poll suggests that television is a constant dinner companion for a quarter of families. About 15 percent say texting or e-mailing on a cell phone can also intrude on occasion, and about 5 percent say it always does.

Nearly 40 percent of those surveyed have the radio or stereo going, at least occasionally. And about half say they're pestered by phone calls -- including from the occasional pollsters like those who did this survey.