Should I Text or Should I Call?: How College Students Navigate Mediated Connections with Family

Abstract

Purpose À This study investigated how college students' pace of life and perceptions of communication technologies shape the choices they make when engaging in mediated communication with their parents.Methodology À We conducted 21 interviews to explore how students' understandings of various communication technologies, the rules and patterns of technology use in their families, and the circumstances surrounding their use of technologies while at college influence the number and type of media they use to communicate with their parents.Findings À We found that perceived busyness and generational differences played a large role in limiting technologies used, with environmental Communication and Information Technologies Annual Doing and Being Digital: Mediated Childhoods factors, the purpose of communication, and complexity of message also contributing to technology choices.Originality À This study extends media multiplexity theory by investigating media choice and relational tie strength in an intergenerational context.Technology has fundamentally changed the way that young adults communicate with their family when they are away at college. While former generations were limited to letters or occasional phone calls, today's parents can check in with their children via phone call or text message, send them an email, write on their Facebook wall, or interact with them in real time via video chat. With American families describing themselves as busier than ever before (Darrah, Freeman, & English-Lueck, 2007;Schulte, 2014), the majority of college students working at least part-time while attending school (Kingkade, 2013), and an increasing emphasis on maximizing efficiency in daily life (Southerton, 2007), having a variety of communication options has become more important for staying in touch. This study takes up the question of how multiplying communication options and perceptions of increased busyness affect the nature and quality of mediated interactions between college students and their parents. Here mediated interactions are defined as any use of technology for transmission of content across time and space. Previous scholarship has established the importance of frequent, positive communication to the maintenance of parentÀchild relationships during the college years (Morr Serewicz, Dickson, Huynh Thi Anh Morrison, & Poole, 2007; Orrego & Rodriguez, 2001), the impact different technologies have on the process of communication (Baym, 2010), and the increasing use of technology to facilitate communication between college students and their family members (Levine & Dean, 2012). However, we know less about how families make decisions about their technology use, what role pace of life plays in these decisions, and the relational outcomes of these decisions. To address these questions, the current study explores mediated interactions between children and parents through interviews with current college students.Other scholars studying mediated interactions and interpersonal relationships have suggested differing answers...

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