Family Technology Use: Sources of Conflict In Parents’ Relationships

The use of digital technologies, particularly mobile devices, play an increasingly critical role within everyday family life. However, recent research indicates that family technology use can create conflict in parents’ relationships. In this paper, we present four sources of this conflict, discovered by conducting a probe and interview study with eight parent dyads. By providing an understanding of how family technology use can create conflict between parents, this research complements existing work that primarily focuses on parent-child relationships. Thus, we contribute to a more complete understanding of how technology use can affect family dynamics. Finally, we consider how designers might address these sources of conflict between parents, when creating future technologies that are destined for use in domestic settings.