Nine Use of communication technology to maintain intergenerational contact: toward an understanding of ‘digital solidarity’
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Siyun Peng
Abstract
This chapter examines the use of communication technology (emailing and texting) for the maintenance of digital solidarity. It first considers the role of digital solidarity in the study of intergenerational solidarity, and more specifically how digital solidarity adds a new dimension to the concepts of associational solidarity and functional solidarity. It then explores the use of emailing and texting by older mothers to maintain contact with their adult children using data from two US sources and from different years (the 2008 Within-Family Differences Study and the 2016 Longitudinal Study of Generations). The demographic characteristics of mothers are discussed, along with the characteristics of their adult children and the methods used in the two studies. The results show that mothers in the 2016 sample are more likely to use communication technology with their offspring than are mothers in the 2008 sample. The chapter concludes by suggesting directions for future research.
Abstract
This chapter examines the use of communication technology (emailing and texting) for the maintenance of digital solidarity. It first considers the role of digital solidarity in the study of intergenerational solidarity, and more specifically how digital solidarity adds a new dimension to the concepts of associational solidarity and functional solidarity. It then explores the use of emailing and texting by older mothers to maintain contact with their adult children using data from two US sources and from different years (the 2008 Within-Family Differences Study and the 2016 Longitudinal Study of Generations). The demographic characteristics of mothers are discussed, along with the characteristics of their adult children and the methods used in the two studies. The results show that mothers in the 2016 sample are more likely to use communication technology with their offspring than are mothers in the 2008 sample. The chapter concludes by suggesting directions for future research.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- List of figures and tables v
- Notes on contributors vi
- Acknowledgements xiv
- The family has become a network xv
- Connecting families? An introduction 1
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Theoretical and methodological approaches
- Theoretical perspectives on technology and society: implications for understanding the relationship between ICTs and family life 21
- Recursive approaches to technology adoption, families, and the life course: actor network theory and strong structuration theory 41
- Weaving family connections on and offline: the turn to networked individualism 59
- Oversharing in the time of selfies: an aesthetics of disappearance? 81
- The application of digital methods in a life course approach to family studies 97
- Cross-disciplinary research methods to study technology use, family, and life course dynamics: lessons from an action research project on social isolation and loneliness in later life 113
- From object to instrument: technologies as tools for family relations and family research 133
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Empirical approaches
- Use of communication technology to maintain intergenerational contact: toward an understanding of ‘digital solidarity’ 159
- Careful families and care as ‘kinwork’: an intergenerational study of families and digital media use in Melbourne, Australia 181
- Floating narratives: transnational families and digital storytelling 201
- Rescue chains and care talk among immigrants and their left-behind parents 219
- ‘Wherever you go, wherever you are, I am with you ... connected with my mobile’: the use of mobile text messages for the maintenance of family and romantic relations 237
- Permeability of work-family borders: effects of information and communication technologies on work-family conflict at the childcare stage in Japan 255
- Digital connections and family practices 273
- Index 295
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- List of figures and tables v
- Notes on contributors vi
- Acknowledgements xiv
- The family has become a network xv
- Connecting families? An introduction 1
-
Theoretical and methodological approaches
- Theoretical perspectives on technology and society: implications for understanding the relationship between ICTs and family life 21
- Recursive approaches to technology adoption, families, and the life course: actor network theory and strong structuration theory 41
- Weaving family connections on and offline: the turn to networked individualism 59
- Oversharing in the time of selfies: an aesthetics of disappearance? 81
- The application of digital methods in a life course approach to family studies 97
- Cross-disciplinary research methods to study technology use, family, and life course dynamics: lessons from an action research project on social isolation and loneliness in later life 113
- From object to instrument: technologies as tools for family relations and family research 133
-
Empirical approaches
- Use of communication technology to maintain intergenerational contact: toward an understanding of ‘digital solidarity’ 159
- Careful families and care as ‘kinwork’: an intergenerational study of families and digital media use in Melbourne, Australia 181
- Floating narratives: transnational families and digital storytelling 201
- Rescue chains and care talk among immigrants and their left-behind parents 219
- ‘Wherever you go, wherever you are, I am with you ... connected with my mobile’: the use of mobile text messages for the maintenance of family and romantic relations 237
- Permeability of work-family borders: effects of information and communication technologies on work-family conflict at the childcare stage in Japan 255
- Digital connections and family practices 273
- Index 295
