Author:

Keywords:

media in the family, new media, media appliances, family context, television, patterns, Social Sciences, Communication, Media in the family, TELEVISION, PATTERNS

Abstract:

An integrated quantitative and qualitative research design was employed to study some of the ways in which the diffusion of new information and communication technologies (ICT) is related to the disposition of physical and symbolic space within families. A typology of family types based on possession of media appliances was constructed based on over 900 telephone interviews. This typology consisted of four types of families: 'traditional', 'intermediate', and 'multimedia'. It was then used as a basis for selecting 38 families for in-depth-interviews. Out of these, ten families were chosen as case-studies to participate in a Family Interaction Game (FIG). The results of the FIG indicate first, that it is not only media appliances that induce compartmentalization, but also the conceptions and organization of space that families employ and, second, that besides the television set, the computer appears to be an important factor in shaping family space and should be studied accordingly. Furthermore, the interviews indicate that privacy is not always attainable in the family context, especially not for teenagers.