How emerging adults navigate the autonomy–connection dialectic with parents via information communication technology (ICT) choices

Abstract

ObjectiveOur study explores how emerging adults navigate the tension between autonomy and connection in communication with their parents.BackgroundFor many emerging adults, the first few years outside of the home have come to be defined more by connection than autonomy. Information communication technologies (ICTs) are frequently cited as encouraging this constant contact between parents and emerging adults. Yet emerging adults also use technologies to develop a sense of who they are outside of their family of origin.MethodWe used in‐depth interviews with 21 college students to better understand how emerging adults use ICTs to keep in touch with their parents, how they make sense of mediated connections, and how they navigate autonomy and connection in their justification of ICT options.ResultsParticipants reported communicating with their parents frequently, often daily. Although communication behaviors suggested a privileging of connection over autonomy, participants' explanations of ICT choice invoked autonomy by highlighting personal preferences and compatibility with their busy lifestyle as justification for choosing how or when they would communicate with their parents. Participants also tended to attribute their use of nonpreferred ICTs to external factors such as situational factors and parents' limited technology skills.ConclusionParticipants used ICTs to maintain a connection with their parents during college, but framed the specific ICTs they used to communicate with their parents in terms that emphasized their autonomy as emerging adults. Our study contributes to research on emerging adulthood, family relationships, and technology by providing a new conceptualization of the autonomy and connection dialectic that recognizes how today's technologies have collapsed interpersonal distance.