CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

This chapter contains the collected literatures and studies about the correlation of family

and technology, which could be the basis and evidences that can be presented to support our

research.

Related Literature

Introduction

Technology is ever changing in areas such as advancements in televisions, the internet,

computers, cellphones; such to name a few, and thus affecting not only the workplace, but

including family relationships as well. According to Macionis (2012), a family is an agent of

socialization and the primary source of influence behind the formation of personality and the

growth of a child. Addition to that, Mesch (2006) stated that a family is a social system that has

a “collective identity”, which is the “result of shared recollections of togetherness that are

created as family members spend time together in shared meals, games, and chatting”,

meaning everything that happens inside the clique affects all the members of the family. And

with advancements and emergence of technology occurring in our era, such factors influence

the daily interaction inside the family circle. Moreover, with changes to technology, impact is

made on individuals and families (Lanigan, 2009).

Technology in the household

Impacts of technology on the family relationships can be boon or bane, depending on

the usage and dependence of the users. Within the household, there has been a process that is

referred to as domestication, which mainly refers to domestic technologies that aid the running

of a household in everyday life and alters “family culture and patterns of interaction” (Mesch,

2006). And thus, technology within the home has many benefits for a household and a family
and it has changed the “meanings of family time” (Mesch, 2006). One reason is that according

to Plowman et al. (2008), children use technology within the home “for communication, self-

expression, work-related tasks and entertainment”. For that reason, technologies such as

“computer and video games, television or the internet can make a key contribution to older

children’s social and intellectual development” (Plowman et al., 2010). Furthermore, digital

technologies in the home not only aids social interaction as it is a way that children can be

taught how to use these technologies as they play such as a fundamental role in their lives, but

is also a way for children to acquire new skills and improve school improvements (Mesch,

2006). Also, the internet plays a vital role in social relationships between individuals. As Yoon

(2006) outlines “the internet enables young people to re-establish and intensify familial

relationships via constant contact between the members”, and thus, allows individuals “to

strengthen their connection with the extended family beyond their own nuclear family”.

It is therefore evident from existing literature that new media technologies can indeed

positively encourage and aid social interaction between individuals, such as family members

and friends. However, in contrast, it can also been argued that these new media technologies

can have a negative impact inside the family circle which Ayyagari et al. (2007) presumed that

even normative use and the fact that devices, such as mobile phones, are always on and ever

present could cause intrusions and interruptions in family life. Also, as stated by Plowman et al.

(2010), opportunities for interactions with family members that promote emotional that promote

emotional development are reduced. Moreover, according to Mesch (2006), the internet within

the home is therefore “negatively related to time spent with family” and it is thought to have a

“negative effect on family connection and closeness”, which support the conclusions of

Ayyagari, Grover, & Purvis (2011) that the ever-present nature of mobile devices, especially

phones, appears to be stressful for some individuals. Furthermore, these enticing characteristics

of new technology can lead some to develop new problematic mobile phones use behaviors,
such as turning to their phones when they feel down, being preoccupied with or feeling anxious

about receiving a message or email, feeling lost without their phone, and spending too much

time on the phone (Bianchi & Philips, 2005). Lastly, Aarsand (2007) defines one of the main

impacts of technology, the digital divide, which is “the difference between those who know and

those who do not know how to act in a digital environment”.

New technologies can have a positive or negative impact on a family, it can either assist

in supporting and improving social interaction within the family members, and it can also create

a division and inversing familial relationships, hence, identifying these impacts is one of the

merits for carrying out this research.

Related Studies

The study of McDaniel (2015) specifically focused on the potential of technology in

interfering on couple and family relationship or the times that technology devices interrupt the

family or couple interaction. 143 women were chosen to rank, give their perceptions, and

answer questions related to the two domains; the couple interaction and co-parenting

relationship. A 6-Point scale was used to rank the level of interference of a technology, where 0

is the lowest (never) and 5 is the highest (All the time).

Results showed that most women perceive technology devices as highly interrupting and

cellphone/smartphones, computers, televisions, Ipads or tablets are the common devices that

create interruptions during couple interaction or even at the interaction of mother, father and

their child. Women rated cellphones as most interrupting devices which gained an average of

70% votes in couple interaction and 51% in co-parenting interactions.

As a conclusion, the researcher made it clear that technology not only becomes a way of

connecting ourselves to other people but it can also be a hindrance in interacting to family

members when used excessively. Younger individuals, especially those who were exposed to
technology devices has the tendency to be addicted on using it which results in having a poor

connection with their parents.

Finally, McDaniel and Coyne (2016) extended all of this previous work in a sample of

203 mothers who had a child of 3 years or younger and examined the prevalence of technology

interference on the parenting of mothers to their young children.

The participants responded on the two sets of items given to them: The Technology

Interference in Co-parenting Scale (TICS) and the Technology Interference in Parenting Scale

(TIPS). On the TICS, four items were given to the participants and asked them how frequently

cellphone/ smartphones, televisions, computer/laptops, and iPods or other tablets interrupt

interactions when all of the family members are present. They rated their perceptions on a 6-

point scale where 0 is never and 5 is all the time. In the TIPS, participants responded to how

frequently technology interferes with or interrupts their own and their partners parenting during

14 domains (bed time, play time, meal time, etc.), rating their perceptions on a 5-point scale,

from 0 (Never) to 4 (Very Often).

Findings of the study concluded that 96% of mothers who participated in the survey

reported that at least one device interferes in their parenting and co-parenting.

Cellphones/smartphones (58%) had the most often interference in parent-child interaction, and

at least 20% or more mothers rated technology as sometimes interfering or more often in such

domains. Moreover, for those who said that they are experiencing more technology interference

in their parenting, they stated that it can result to a lower parenting quality, lower relationship

satisfaction, and more depressive symptoms, Addition to that, it was reported that technology

interference was more frequent the older the child, and less frequent the older the mother is.