THE IMPACT OF NEW MEDIA

TECHNOLOGIES ON SOCIAL
INTERACTION IN THE HOUSEHOLD

SIOBHAN MCGRATH
• Methodological Approach
• Discussion of Findings
• Conclusions
Goal
• To explore if new media technologies
are having a positive or negative impact
on social interaction within households.
– Examine if new media technologies
bring family members together and
increases social interaction within a
household
Goal
• To explore if new media technologies
are having a positive or negative impact
on social interaction within households.
– If it leads a decline in social relations
amongst individuals.
Goal
• To explore if new media technologies
are having a positive or negative impact
on social interaction within households.
– Investigate if it leads to a growing
privatization within a household due
to the fact that individuals are using
technology independently rather than
collectively.
 APPROACH

• CONSTRUCTIVIST PARADIGM
– The perspective that emphasizes how different
stakeholders in social setting construct his beliefs.
– People construct an image of reality based on
their own preferences and interactions with
others, and peoples’ perceptions of reality are
understood differently by different people.
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
• Designed to capture social life as
participant’s experience.
• Measurement approach in which
indicators of concepts are drawn from
direct observation and in-depth
commentary.
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
• The researcher wanted to see the social
world from the same perspective as his
participants, and he wanted to hear
what they had to say in their own words.
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
• Total of 17 individuals were observed
over the course of four observation
sessions in four different households
(February and March 12)
• Four children participated in the study
aged between 12 and 17 of which three
were girls and one boy.
 EXECUTION

• Several hours of observation in the homes of four

different families during night time where everyone
was present for one hour.

– INTERACTIONS
– COMMUNICATIONS
 EXECUTION

• OVERT ACCESS
• Participants were fully aware that they were being observed
• Participants were asked directly during the observation
• Amount and regularity of new media technology use within
the home
• Number of devices present in a room
• Impact of it on communication
FINDINGS
• New Media Technologies have
embedded in the lives of children and
young people in today’s society.

• New Media Technologies are now taken

for granted within homes, embedded in
the routines of children’s daily lives.
FINDINGS
• Observations concur with Mesch (2006)
that a process known as “domestication”
has occurred in recent years. NMT have
fully immersed into the household.
FINDINGS
• Each household has an array of digital
technologies present.
• All households has wireless internet
access
• At least one smart phone and all
participants owned a mobile phone.
• Minimum of two iPods, two TV sets and
two DVD players.
FINDINGS
• Each household has an array of digital
technologies present.
• Each household has one computer and
another laptop
• Two of the households had an ipad and
one game console.
 DISCUSSION

• Communication and human interaction is governed

by the position of new media technologies within
the home.
 DISCUSSION

• Contributes to the perception of the identity and

uniqueness of one’s family.
• Where a television is located and who uses it and when it
is watched.
 DISCUSSION

• Social interaction shapes and is shaped by the

practices and routines of everyday life.
• In Household 3, the home computer was located in a
confined space, though it was a public space within home.
• One participant was isolated from her family by using
computer for Facebook while listening to iTunes
• Therefore there has been a change from an era best
characterized as family television to one of individualized
media lifestyles.
 DISCUSSION

• Social interaction shapes and is shaped by the

practices and routines of everyday life.
• Therefore there has been a change from an era best
characterized as family television to one of individualized
media lifestyles.
• Digital tech has the capacity to draw people’s attention
away from their immediate physical and social
surroundings.
 DISCUSSION

»Higher levels of usage of digital

technologies are associated with declines
in communication with family members
(DiMaggio et al.’s , 2001)
 DISCUSSION

• BED CULTURE
• NWT creates social isolation within household
• Children have moved their activities from the streets into
their homes, specifically into their bedrooms.
• Young participants in bedroom Houshold 2 played Call of
Duty on the X-Box 360 which he chatted with his friends
via headset discussion tactics.
 DISCUSSION

• BED CULTURE
• Young participants in bedroom Houshold 2 played Call of
Duty on the X-Box 360 which he chatted with his friends
via headset discussion tactics.
– Social interaction was enhanced through mediation of new media
technology.
– Even within the private space of his bedroom he could talk to his
peers as if they were in the same room as him.
 DISCUSSION

• BED CULTURE
• Young participants in bedroom Houshold 2 played Call of
Duty on the X-Box 360 which he chatted with his friends
via headset discussion tactics.
– New Media technologies have extended the notion of home;
intimacy, family, friends, relaxation. (Absence of face-to-face
interaction)
 DISCUSSION

• Growing Privatization within the

Household.
• Activities also have become much more individualized.
– Sharing a family meal together has become so individualized that
it is now perceived to be a “solo activity”.
– Family unit was dispersed around the house eating dinner
separately.
 DISCUSSION

• Growing Privatization within the

Household.
• Activities also have become much more individualized.
– Technologies are having a negative impact on social interaction
within a household because they are limiting “the extent of family
time” that can be spent together.
CONCLUSIONS
• New Media Technologies are having a
negative impact on social interaction
within the household in terms of time
allocation patterns in the choice of social
functions in the transmittal of cultural
values and in overall human behavior
(Venkatesh and Vitalari 1985:3)
CONCLUSIONS
• It has the ability to change the
way family is organized.
CONCLUSIONS
– Positive family communication is a
fundamental part of social interaction
(sending clear and congruent
messages, expressing empathy,
providing supportive comments, and
demonstrating effective problems-
solving skills.
CONCLUSIONS
– An impact on social interaction
between individuals as
communication is vital for good family
relationships.
The family continues to
have a significant role
in young people’s life
(Turtiainen, 2007).