I DON'T know about you, but when I was growing up, family time was compulsory.

I admit this didn't always meet with my approval.

Especially when I was a vile, grumpy teenager.

Back then all I wanted to do was sit in my (darkened) room, wearing a hideous grey jumper (complete with the obligatory holes) and Doc Marten's (I would like to stress that this was the early to mid-nineties and grunge and the inevitable surly behaviour that accompanied it) were all the rage.

I would listen to Nirvana, Nine Inch Nails and Pearl Jam, read Sylvia Plath and contemplate — as only teenagers can — how awful my life was (it really, really wasn't) and how no-one understood me (possibly because I was a complete moron).

But every tea time we all sat down together to eat and more importantly, chatted (well, this was mainly my mum due to aforementioned teenage "affliction" — and my dad's inevitable fury about how daft his only daughter was).

I didn't realise it then — but absolutely do now — how vital this time was.

Now, as a family we are super-close.

In fact, as soon as I snapped out of my total idiot phase, we became Cumbria's version of The Walton's.

Sadly, and this makes me even more amazed at my own stupidity because I wasted precious time with her by being a typical teenager, my mum is no longer with us. But every time I go home I love nothing more than spending quality time with my family.

So, with this in mind, there is one advert currently on our telly box that is driving me mad.

It shows a family in a cafe spending "quality time" together.

However, this particular advert is trying to flog — no, not something to bring your family closer together as you might think — broadband.

It highlights the myriad of ways a family can spend time "together" while all using various devices to connect them to the internet — and totally ignore each other.

There's a laptop, tablet, a mobile phone — even a watch (I'm still rubbish with technology so I genuinely thought these things belonged only in bad sci fi movies from the 1970s).

At no point do the family interact with each other. At all.

Now I know this is ONLY an advert — but I suspect it's a lot closer to the truth in a lot of households than the majority of advertising campaigns.

Don’t get me wrong, I think the internet is a truly marvellous invention.

Your mobile phone becomes the entire British Library in your pocket — if you want it to be, of course. You COULD just use it to make calls, send text messages. Or even just play Angry Birds if you feel so inclined.

You can communicate with people on the other side of the world at the click of a button.

You can even connect with people from your past who you never thought you'd hear from again — but wanted to — and had no idea how to get in touch with.

And you need never be bored in the doctor's surgery/train journey/way to work on the bus/while waiting for pals in the pub again.

But what it can't do is replace that precious interaction with actual people — especially your friends and family.

So make sure you find time to NOT follow Kevin Bacon's advice and spend real time — not virtual time — with those you love.