<b>Families grappling with tech overload: Study</b>

Modern families worldwide, including those from India, are striving for equilibrium in lives overloaded with technology, according to a study released today by Yahoo and Omnicom Group's OMD.

Computing and communications devices had people cramming an average of 43 hours' worth of activity into a typical 24-hour day by "multi-tasking," the survey said.

"Everybody multi-tasks," Mike Hess of Omnicom Group's OMD said. "The theme we saw was that people were looking for balance - not wanting to give up cable Internet while wanting the kids to get out more."

"There was also a return-to-basic values such as having dinner together, playing monopoly or cards and taking vacations where they could disconnect for a while."

Mexico, India and China had the highest multi-tasking rates, respectively, packing 46, 45 and 44 hours' worth of tasks into standard days.

At the more relaxed end of the spectrum were France with 34 hours and South Korea with 33. The United States came it at the average.

Typical "Internet households" on the planet had nearly 11 electronic gadgets, Hess said.

The online survey was conducted during the summer and involved 4,783 respondents in 16 countries in Asia, Europe, Australia and the Americas.

Responses painted a picture of modern families in which men do the cooking, women work and children are kings of home castles when it came to understanding technology, Yahoo vice president Michele Madansky said.