Has Technology Changed Family Dynamics? Results and Findings By: Amanda DoCampo

Introduction: Question: Has technology changed family dynamics in the digital age? Problem: It is very hard to measure family interaction because it is very time consuming and expensive for researchers. Solution: Observing different families and there interactions with technology, as well as there families in four areas: social gatherings, meal time, “tv time”, and their normal operations.

Meet the Families Surveyed: All Alonso D’Auria McGuire Morales Observed: Five below Gardenier Jr. Ponce Gardenier Sr. Maletic Alvarez

Literary Review What did Researcher’s Find? Has Technology been good for Family Life? This article by Jim Shelley and Peter Stanford is a debate about a new survey carried out by Ofcom, that states families are now sitting together around the TV again, but rather with their iPad, iPod, laptops and phones with them into the same space. The D’Auria Family

Literary Review 1 Embracing Family & Technology: By: Issac M. O’Bannon Follows the life of Robert Carmines a business owner that realized he and his company Carmines, Robbins & Company, PLC had to evolve or get left behind. He reminisces that thanks to technology he was able to keep up with his business while staying closely connected to his family. He acknowledges that he was able to go on vacation with the ease that he could connect with clients at any time because technology allowed him to. E.g technology helped Alvarez family. The Alvarez Family

Literary Review 2 Is technology helping families communicate or holding them back? By Carrie Dunn Majority of parents and children feel their life has been enriched by technology. Nine out of ten children feel they have more opportunities because of technology. Some technologies like skype and FaceTime help maintain stronger family connections. Families playing online games together, with relatives not in their country. Technology helps grandparents stay connect with their younger relatives. 95% of teens surveyed felt safer leaving their homes with their cellphones.

Literary Review 3 The Influence of Technology on Family Dynamics By: Alessondra Villegas 7 hours a day is dedicated to technology use. Parents encourage technology use. Social interactions are being lost at home. The Ponce Family

Literary Review The Wired Family: Living Digitally in the Post Information Age By: Peggy Meszaros Technology becomes a “babysitter for parents.” Parents are in sole control of how much technology their children are being exposed to on a daily basis.

Data Analysis Not all technology is created equal, some are beneficial like apps that help you communicate with family across the country. (skype) Parents make it accessible and acceptable to include technology while interacting as a family. (Ponce and D’Auria) Parents need to open the doors of communication and limit media usage.

Methodology used by Researchers Quantitative Findings: Villegas and Meszaro use statistics and time to calculate the amount of time adults and children use technology. children 8-18 years-old spend an average of 7 and a half hours a day with media. Children 8-18 spend 2 hours a day sending an receiving messages on their mobile device. Qualitative Findings: Acknowledging that parents are at the forefront for providing and encouraging the use of technology. e.g “Babysitter” There have been benefits of technology use among children in areas such as:” visual attention skills, their spatial skills, their iconic skills, and their computer literacy skills” (Children Now, 2001).

My Methodology Quantitative: Conducted surveys with Mother’s and Father’s of 10 Families. (Morales, Alvarez, Alonso, Maletic, McGuire, Gardenier Sr., D’Auria, Gardenier Jr., and Ponce) Tallied information to answer question. Qualitative: Observing the families. Interviewing the families at the end of observation. Reviewed survey with them. E.g technology as a babysitter. Some families answered no on survey but later agreed.

Limitations There needs to be more information “that focuses on technology within the context of studying family issues”. (Meszaros, p.4) As well as information that explains how families assimilate, adopt, and accommodate to new media. Being able to observe different families over a 24 hour, 7 day period. Being able to create a theory that can answer and measure technology and its effect on families.

Policy Recommendations Focus on more than one family to compare. Dedicate the same time to each family. So, observing time is the same. Compare findings with other researchers findings, as I have.

Research v.s My Findings In my Literary review’s I found that : people were either for technology or blaming technology for the loss of social interaction in a families given household. My Findings: families allowed technology to be a part of their lives or limited the amount of time they interacted with it. My Findings: More positive than negative reviews because my research is recent and studies were done in 1993.

Findings Based on Survey’s: All 8 families are for technology. All felt it enhanced their lives. That now their children are the ones helping to make technology accessible to their parents not the other way around. Parents are at the forefront for providing technology. (same as researchers)

Survey Findings TV at Meal Time? Answered yes: Morales, Gardenier Sr., Alonso, Gardenier Jr. Answered no: Maletic, McGuire. Answered indifferent to it: Ponce, D’Auria

Survey Findings Technology at Social Gatherings? What Devices are accepted and present? (TV, Cellphones and Ipads) Cellphones present? All 8 families. Tv on? Gardenier Jr., Gardenier Sr., Ponce, Morales, Alonso, Maletic Tv off? Alvarez and McGuire

Survey Findings Did Families use Technology as a babysitter? Families that answered no: All families. However, later agreed once I interviewed them that at one point or another technology did in fact act as a babysitter. What Technologies were used? Tv, Ipad, and cellphones.

Findings Did any family feel that Technology could be threatening their family Dynamics? Only one: The Maletic Family was the only one to voice the limit of technology in a social gathering. In the 3 months and many interactions with families and media, Maletic’s were the only one. Daughter Gia had a limit to the amount of television watched. Did not touch parents cellphones or Ipads. Technology was off limits. As opposed to Ponce Family. Daughter Valentina 3 months younger was allowed to play with all of parents gagets. (remotes, cell phones, ipad, and she has a leap frog)

Findings Technology has become part of everyday life that many of the families didn’t even pay much mind to it till I asked them questions about it. Gardenier Jr., Gardenier Sr., Morales, Alonso, and D’Auria. Plainly, this is how life is now. Some did notice it? Only families aware to it were: Maletic, Alvarez and Mcguire. –These families put certain limits to it in social gatherings.

Core Findings Overall: Yes, technology has changed Family dynamics. Families are finding news ways to keep social interactions going. They’re evolving with technology. Some interact socially more than others. (That’s has always been the case, not just now)

Last Finding Most interesting Finding: Parents provide children with technology. In turn, as children grow up they help parents with technology. e.g Gardenier Sr., Alvarez, Morales, and Alonso---children help parents set up television, Ipad, and cellphones.

Future Questions? Will the dynamics of a family change and evolve with the growth of technology? Yes, and I’ve witnessed it. e.g D’Auria grandmother lives down the shore and grandchildren were able to speak with face time =) What will be lost and gained in terms of family dynamics as a result of technological developments? Guess: physically things are changing. Less activity. (not a fact)

D’Auria, McGuire, Maletic, Morales The End Questions??