Technology plays an important role in modern families. Social media channels provide important connections as families become more scattered across the globe.
Parents send their kids off to colleges and work opportunities around the world. Platforms like Skype and Facebook enable parents and guardians to stay connected and engage in remote caregiving.
In recent years more and more households have moved to either studying or working from home. Electronic payments and other digital infrastructures allow households to do all their work or study-related activities from home. This includes attending meetings, writing exams, conducting lessons, and more from a home-based office.
When children or parents are traveling abroad, they reach out to one another to keep relationships current and to pass on familial activities or events. Technology has helped families to maintain these valuable relationships.
However, online platforms and digital technologies also have the power to interfere with personal relationships and deliver uninvited or harmful content. Social media can have a negative impact on the social cohesion of families and the well-being of children.
The issue is that these technologies have greater social benefits when family members are far apart, but when these technologies are used in a household, it has been shown to distract parents from their children, and this prevents members of a family from engaging in nurturing conversations.
Recent studies made by the restaurant industry suggest that a large proportion of people who go to a restaurant use smartphones during meals. More and more people in restaurants are eating and talking while engrossed in their screens, only putting their devices down briefly to engage in other conversations or activities.
The effect of digital and technological trends differs across socio-economic divides. Statistics show that children from wealthy families spend less time watching TV or playing video games than children who are from low-income families. Affluent families are also more likely to invest in educational technologies for their children.
It is essential that digital and technological trends can benefit people from all walks of life to ensure that society can benefit from these developments. As time goes on, technology is becoming more accessible to people in rural areas, and the role it plays in households will continue to shift.