Television shows and the American media have been showing images of the perfect family and family dinners for years.
In years past, it was shows like The Brady Bunch that showed America what it was like to sit at a table with six well-behaved kids. The Wonder Years depicted a middle class family that sat around a crowded kitchen table to enjoy dinner.
These days, even Ozzy Osbourne and Hulk Hogan have programs that show how they spend their meals with their families, however dysfunctional they may be.
Ellen Abell, professor of human development and family studies, said spending time with family is important as long as the time is spent productively.
"It's not just that you all eat together," Abell said. "The idea is that when you are together every one gets to share parts of their day and be together and remember that you are a family."
Abell said simply having dinner with a group of people does not necessarily bring that group closer together.
"If you have a completely dysfunctional family and you come together for dinner time, that may or may not fix the dysfunction," Abell said. "Often times, it does not."
Logan Plew, a senior in supply chain management, said it was not necessarily important for him to eat dinner with his family every night.
"What really mattered was who you ate with," Plew said. "I had a buddy who was over at my house more than I was. Often times it would just be the two of us and my mom."
Not every family in America is the same cookie cutter family with two parents and two children who live and co-exist in perfect harmony, Plew said.
Bryant Haley, a junior in Wireless Engineering, said that both of his parents worked and often times he and his older brother would end up spending dinner together, just the two of them.
"We were at each other's throats a lot growing up," Haley said. "I think the times we got along best were when we just sat there in silence, eating."
As people grow older they have a certain nostalgia for a time when they could sit down with there family over dinner, Plew said.
"Being away from home makes me really cherish the time I spend with my mom," Plew said. "I spend every meal I can with her when I'm home just to make up for lost time."
Abell said what is important is that families make the effort to improve their relationships when sit down together for dinner.
"When you do get together, you're making a commitment to be together and presumably you are interacting with one another in a positive way around dinner time," Abell said.
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