Young adults' perceptions of technology use with extended family

Abstract

Objective The current study explores young adults' perceptions of the use and impact of technology on their relationships with extended family. Background Young adults are avid technology users and communicate frequently with parents and siblings using a variety of online tools. There is limited research examining young adults' use of technology to communicate with extended family members, despite studies suggesting that these relationships serve a unique and valuable role in their lives. Method Qualitative data were collected from 529 U.S. 18–29‐year‐old young adults (N = 529; M age = 25.91 years, SD = 2.53) utilizing an online survey. Results An inductive content analysis revealed five primary themes: Technology facilitates giving and receiving support, technology enables family bonding, technology allows young adults to mediate distance and closeness, technology environments as places of family discovery, and paradoxes exist in technology use with extended family. Conclusion Young adults connect with extended family online in beneficial and sometimes contradictory ways; technology serves as a mechanism for modulating levels of involvement with family, enabling young adults to preserve or grow autonomy while also providing opportunities for interaction in their everyday lives. Implications Family practitioners and educators working with young adults can assist them in tapping into extended family as a resource using a range of communication channels.

The impact of social media platforms on communication within Saudi families: A quantitative analysis based on the theory of uses and gratifications

“…Contrary to a form of "selective mutism" or estrangement between children and parents, SMP usage may, in fact, enhance or at least maintain actual communication levels between them. This finding is consistent with numerous international studies that have highlighted the role of SMPs in fostering and sustaining parent-child connections (Ball et al, 2013;Child et al, 2015;Hessel and LeBouef, 2023) because they enable parallel communication with direct communication and integrate with it.…”

“…Students' use of SMPs and their gratifications are influenced by their social and cultural traits, as determined by the second purpose of the study, which was to assess the influence of family on the students' use of SMPs (Al Omoush et al, 2012). The research found that students are affected by SMPs in terms of their relationships, values, and standards of traditional family culture, which plays a crucial role in molding the uses and defining the gratifications (Karimi et al, 2014;Leijse et al, 2023;Saputri and Yumarni, 2023;Hessel and LeBouef, 2023). In the same context, it is posited that students' motivations for using Facebook exhibit variation based on their cultural backgrounds.…”

“…The uses, motives, and expected gratifications were not analyzed qualitatively to determine the degree of exacerbation of the "familial selective mutism" phenomenon. Or it was to determine whether the uses themselves may be a means to reduce the phenomenon of mutism within the family and to enhance communication among its members (Procentese et al, 2019;Doty and Dworkin, 2014;Hessel and LeBouef, 2023).…”

Doing family online: (In)formal knowledge circulation, information‐seeking practices, and support communities

“…In their article, Hessel and LeBouef (2023) explore young adults' perceptions of technology use with extended family members in the United States. The authors show that ICT increases the intensity of communication exchanges with extended family members, but not necessarily their depth and intimacy.…”