A D V E N T U R E S in C Y B E R S O U N DThe Impact of New Telecommunications Services on Family and Social Relations by Karen Wale and Patricia Gillard
This paper Copyright 1994 Telcommunications Needs Research Group Faculty of Social Sciences and Communications, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. Reproduction of this paper in whole or in part, other than for review purposes or for individual, non-commercial use, is forbidden except with the express written permission of the copyright holder.
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Introduction In this decade there are two factors that converge to make the question of telecommunications and family relationships an important one. Telecommunications are currently one of the major focuses of technological innovation. Through talk of the 'information superhighway', a global push is being created for the integration of a worldwide broadband network. At the same time, it is the household which is assumed by many to be the main link with this global pathway, for both work and recreation. These assumptions make the question of telecommunications impacts on the family important to answer. However the answers should not assume that the 'hype' is true or even that a global pathway is technologically possible or desirable. When studying the social aspects of telecommunications we must first ask two important questions, - What do we mean by family/social relations? How are telecommunications and society linked? Once we have defined clearly what is meant by family relationships and the relations of telecommunications with society in general, we can start to answer questions about the specific impact of telecommunications upon the family, and the ways families themselves have adapted telecommunications to suit their purposes There has been relatively little research in this area. How do families use telecommunications in their relationships? How are families adapting new telecommunications services? What will Australian Families do with future telecommunications? New telecommunications services, many of which rely on 'broadband' delivery, offer the potential for new information, education, business, entertainment and community services to be offered direct to homes (BSEG 1994, 5). They will also allow the linking of households to each other and to public institutions. The uses families make of such a capacity will themselves shape further developments. Applications which are personalised and offer greater mobility also have the potential to impact on family relationships. However, as the following discussion shows, social values are more likely to decide the ways these applications are used, rather than people becoming 'victims' to new devices which dislocate existing relationships. 1. What is understood by 'the family'? 'The nuclear family is a state of mind rather than a particular kind of structure or set of household arrangements'(Shorter in Millward 1992, 15) A discussion of 'family' must take into account the many different kinds of family which exist. Only then is it possible to describe the outcomes of social change. Unfortunately, many conventional definitions of 'family' are misleading and it is then the false definitions themselves which colour impressions about what is happening to families. McDonald, Head of the Australian Institute of Family Studies, criticises conventional definitions which restrict families to a household. He points out that 'individuals very often see their families as extending across households... most people see their parents or their children as being members of their family irrespective of where they live' (McDonald 1994, 1). Growing trends in household separation of families do not necessarily diminish the strength of family relationships. There is a need for 'flows of financial, practical and emotional support between households within the same family' (McDonald 1994, 1). The study of contemporary trends suggests a diversification in family structures, yet families go through major transitions which require them to communicate with each other in different households; 'children leaving home, getting married or living in de facto relationships, having children, ending relationships, repartnering, and of course, ageing and dying'(McDonald 1994, 3). The definition of families must include extended families or multiple household families. 'Family' must now be defined not in terms of a household but as a network of people who have a distinct relationship with each other and who have a set of perceived obligations towards one another (McDonald 1992). Family relationships have a history. They extend across time and they are also maintained across physical distance. Family relationships especially need to be sustained outside the domestic sphere. The definition of families as 'networks of people' leads into a discussion of how these human networks have been related to telecommunications. 2. How are Telecommunications and Society linked? 'The telephone like other technologies is not only the product of the history of its own invention as a technical device or object, it is also, in its present form, the product of a social history of its use-designation' (Lucy 1994, 2). It would be a mistake to think of telecommunications as separate from society and then to ask the question of its impacts, for it is our society which produces telecommunications. Indeed it can be argued that telecommunications services are particularly dependent on social relations which give a motivation and a need to telecommunicate. The domestic context, and the sociability it sustains is an important impetus for telecommunications use. The links between technological and social change are never clear when new technologies are first introduced but emerge as people put them to use and thereby shape their further development. These are not always positive, in hindsight. If our current usage of motor cars had been introduced more quickly, it is doubtful whether we would have learned to tolerate the 45,000 to 55,000 people killed each year in accidents, the homes and natural environments destroyed in order to build the highway system or the severe drop in air quality (Katz 1988, 83). However, the advantages of independence and mobility which this technology has offered over a period of 60 years has now become so much part of the way we live that we have gradually learned not to see our losses. Gradual adaptation is also a characteristic of telecommunications. Originally the telephone was developed for business purposes. Through marketing and adopted use it was seen to be an instrument for business. Even after the initial technological barriers were overcome and the telephone had the ability to link with multiple premises, it took a long time before people where able to see any social use for it (Pool 1983). Once they did, a new generation of services was extended to households, for non business purposes. The original definitions of the phone are still reflected in attitudes about the way the phone 'should' be used. Although new technologies, like mobile phones encourage people to experiment and play, their ideas about what phones are 'really' for may be resistant to change. Flexible use can exist alongside limited ideas about appropriate phone use. Social definitions of use, based on past practices provide a limitation on what people do with new devices, or indeed on who has access to them. Even though a business man stuck in traffic on the freeway may enjoy the mobile phone to chat. They may still consider the cellular phone appropriate only for business and purpose-orientated tasks. Newstead (1993) has developed an analytical model for predicting the success of new telecommunications. The best indicators were found to be social indicators rather than technological features. For an application to be successful it must meet five essential criteria. It must first be useful. It must meet at least one fundamental human need for survival, socialisation, esteem, leisure or development. It must be easy to use, cost effective and offer value for money. Lastly it must be socially and psychologically acceptable, not violating existing patterns of organisation, behaviour or social values. Individuals' privacy and personal space need to be accommodated (Newstead 1993). It is this notion of social acceptability or compatibility which is most important in considering telecommunications in relation to society. There is a negative edge to the way telecommunications follow social patterns already laid down. As with the motor car, it is possible that over time, uses which serve one purpose may undermine others which are less obvious. We may lose something of the quality of personal interaction if telecommunications replaces meeting face to face. More importantly, if telecommunications use follows existing patterns of social relations, there may be applications which are never even considered. The most important new services could possibly be to groups not currently defined as having 'legitimate' claims on telecommunications such as children and adolescents, people who 'chat', people who have no money or no fixed address. The devices do not create different ways of behaving in isolation from existing social relationships. Instead, decisions to purchase and use new services, and placement and use of them in the home, are all forms of negotiation with the current values and practices of the household. Telecommunications cannot 'happen' outside of social relations and if new applications demand dramatic social adjustments they are not likely to succeed. 3. How do families use telecommunications in their relationships? General patterns There has been very little study of the ways that families control and use telecommunications within their four walls and across households as part of their family relationships. Surveys and market analyses are inadequate for this purpose because what needs to be studied is what people do, what they take for granted, and not what they say happens. By contrast, family relationships with television have been documented, based on observations and interviews. The findings suggest that the 'environment' of the family directly affects what telecommunications applications people have access to and how they use them. If the television monitor becomes one of the major means of accessing a range of new services, television research will be directly relevant. Research on television has shown that not all members of the family are 'equal' when it comes to program choice (Morley, 1986), or even physical placement around the set (Palmer, 1992). In very broad terms, the preferences of adult males for news pushes aside the viewing of others in the early evening. Children have most choice when fathers are absent, and women are least likely to choose their own programming, except when there is no one else at home. Of course, individual families vary in the decision making power they give to family members and the use of multiple TVs allows compromise but the actual scheduling shows the dominance of male interests in the early evening news, and sport at weekends. Women in Australia, who make up the majority of television viewers, are consistently critical of the intrusion of sport in the schedule, which removes access to programming they would prefer (Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 1987). Either it is not produced or purchased by the networks in the first place or their tastes do not have priority in scheduling by the stations. With home based new telecommunications services there is the possibility that households will follow similar patterns of 'cultural power' where adult male uses are the most 'legitimate'. Decisions about which services to pay for, who uses them and how, may prioritise information or business uses, though there is likely to be negotiation and even conflict over such assumptions or rules, especially by teenage members of households. On the other hand, the fact of women's greater use of the telephone at home, both in the time they spend and the nurturing activity many perform in their conversations, may mean that a very different set of rules and practices will emerge with new telecommunications. American research on the place of TV in families has described different 'time cultures' which affect the ways TV is viewed (Bryce 1987). Some families live a more scheduled life, moving from one activity to another, watching specific programs on TV, but switching it off to do other things including eating meals. Others have the TV as part of many other activities and do not impose a schedule. Time and activities are more fluid, and meals are likely to be eaten while viewing. It seems likely that the ways family members organise their lives will have a direct bearing on new telecommunications use. In particular, rules about the time spent engaged in telecommunications interaction as against family based relating are more likely in the first group described. In the second, communication of all kinds could be done in parallel with other household tasks. The scant research on telecommunications use by the family confirms that there is usually a main person who controls and restricts phone usage (Dordick and LaRose 1993). Many families have rules about phone calls during dinner, at specified times or during periods of joint television viewing when phone chatter can be distracting for other family members (Gillard et al 1994). It seems likely that Morley's description of TV applies to the telephone and new applications: 'Around it a complex web of customary procedures and rituals, rules and principles develop ... enveloped by tensions or negotiations which accompany any form of decision making in families' (Morley 1986, 9). It will be important to understand these more general patterns of family influences as new applications are adopted by Australian families. Uses of the telephone The telephone supports family relationships by maintaining open communication and substituting for human contact. It provides security, and company for the isolated. It entertains and provides an outlet for boredom. It has become an important device for work and domestic organisation. The way people have adapted telecommunications can give us insight into the impact of future innovations upon social relations. The female family network People have found many new ways of using the telephone to support their life demands. Over time women embraced the telephone, redefining it both a business tool and a means of socialising. The telephone quickly took on the role of inter-household communication. The home-based nature of many women and the importance of their social function of maintaining family contacts, has affected the frequency of phoning and what Noble (1987) and Moyal (1992) define as 'intrinsic' calls. These are calls made for personal and social purposes. The phone has become for women a valued substitute for personal contact. Moyal's survey evidence suggests that ongoing telephone communication between female family members constitutes an important part of their support structure and contributes significantly to their sense of well being, security and self esteem. Significant numbers of calls where devoted to mother/daughter inter-household communication and the family was the first most important group. For working women the phone the major means of sustaining relationships with female friends (Moyal 1992). The extended family network Research has shown that often several households are connected by a network of help and support. Extended families or inter household families are important especially in times of illness, child care or emotional need. Millard credits telecommunications for greatly enhancing caring relationships. The telephone is one of the basic ways people are held together. Williamson's (1992) study of older adults found that calls to family members accounted for the largest proportion of calls made. Although elderly family members were often dependent upon younger members, they also made a large contribution to them. Older adults were contacted frequently by phone for financial assistance, help and advice. A strong tie to extended families was maintained through the phone. Phone use did not have to be purpose-orientated, and was often used just to sustain a close relationship between family members and a link between households. Children were especially generous with their phone usage for daily communication, so that phone relationships became akin to actually being there. One respondent in the study spoke of a time her grand-daughter rang her after the loss of a tooth:- 'Gran could you please speak to the tooth fairy again, she left two dollars last time'(Williamson 1994b) Security Gillard et al (1994) found that the phone was important to a sense of security. Being without the phone was described as being 'cut off' from the outside world. 'Yes, I was, I was frightened the other day ..when I just thought how can you live without a telephone in your house, because of the fact that feel like...it's a major line to the outside world from the house. When I hear about someone that doesn't have a telephone in their house I think that's one of those isolating things I can never think about, .. someone at work.they voluntarily cut their phone off the other day because they couldn't afford the bills and I thought after that they were cutting themselves off from the world in many ways.'(Steve in Gillard et al 1994, 19) Williamson (1992) found that for the housebound elderly the phone becomes a 'lifeline'. Overall the phone was considered essential to their well being. 'The phone is my lifeline. ''I couldn't live without the phone.' 'When you are on your own, the phone is your best friend.' 'I'd give up food before I'd give up the phone.' 'I'd become mentally affected without the phone.' (Williamson 1992, 17) Domestic organisation The phone is often needed for domestic organisation in the busy life of an average family. Husband and wife often communicate over the phone to organise dinner or shopping arrangements. One of the largest uses for the telephone is to provide transport for children (Gillard et al 1994, Rakow and Navarro 1993). 'I ring from the station to get someone to meet me at the other end...if I know it's going to be late..'(Gillard et al 1994, 20) Entertainment The phone like the television has also been adapted into a means of entertainment rather than just a medium for information. Gillard et al (1994), found one respondent who flicked through the phone book to see who to call, akin to the use of a remote control to flick through the channels on a television set. 'I get excited, I suddenly realise like I have energy, that I need to dispel often I would dispel that by getting on the phone sometimes I might flick through the book and see who I want to call' (Steve in Gillard et al 1994a) One respondent's brothers and sisters used the extension in another room, to talk to her in the same house. This usually happened when they wanted to tease her or get her off the phone. 'They tell you 'get off the phone now, I need to make a phone call', and normally it's done through the other phone, just say if your on the phone in `one room they will pick up one of the other phones, and say 'Joanne get off the phone'.'(Joanne in Gillard et al 1994b) The phone was sometimes used by the whole family, taking turns to speak to the calling party. It provided a link from an entire household to another. Interviewer: (re Natalie's boyfriend) 'you still get around to talking for 2 to 3 hours?' Natalie: 'Oh, but he talks to Mum in between and to Nicky and I say "hurry up give me the phone back". He talks 'to Dad [about] footy, Mum anything, and Prue, her boyfriends. He says, put Mum on, put Dad on, put your sister on, but I do the same with his parents, I talk to his parents'. 4. How are families adapting new telecommunications services? Like the telephone, new telecommunications offer a means of communication for family members, even if some of them they were not designed for this purpose. Social adjustments may be required. The advent of the mobile phone, for example, threatens accepted forms of etiquette in public spaces and could intrude upon very 'private' spaces. Mobile phones One study of the social impacts of the mobile phone (Davis 1993) identified concerns about social etiquette in public places and growing anxiety concerning privacy and fraud. For example, people are unnerved at the ringing of the phone in a train, a cinema and places identified with relaxation or quietness. On the other hand, the mobile allowed increased accessibility to loved ones, a possibility which could strengthen relationships. However, this also meant greater surveillance, for example of teenage daughters by their fathers. Adaptations of this kind could result in a 'total lack of private time' by the person carrying the mobile (Davis 1993, 647). Gillard et al (1994) also found the issue of private time to be an important concern. One mobile phone user found he had no private time. His permanent accessibility allowed a blurring between spheres of work and home, because work time and work space were no longer strictly defined. Contact by others was spontaneous and unavoidable even in the bathroom. As a result he rarely spent private time with his wife or family. Even a quiet night in their favourite restaurant would be interrupted by the mobile phone's ring . 'From a personal point of view, it's the most horrible contraption ever conceived. Fancy everybody knowing where you are all the time...ringing day in day out when you're in a restaurant or whether believe it or not, in a bathroom'( Gillard et al 1994, 17-21) Davis found that there were positive feelings towards the mobile phone in terms of safety and family responsibilities. It lifted some of the burdens from women who could travel alone but still keep in touch with partners and with children at home. In a similar fashion, Rakow and Navarro (1993) discovered new ways in which mothers looked after their children using mobiles. Women were able to relieve their anxiety about unsupervised children when business delayed their home coming by using the phone. It was also used to make women accessible to the children for transport. The authors used the term 'remote mothering' to describe the activity of keeping in touch during the day to supervise children at home, or to be contacted by children when they needed something. The flexibility mobiles afforded were a mixed blessing. It required mothers to work what the authors describe as 'parallel shifts' instead of just the 'double shift' of work and home. (Rakow and Navarro 1993) 'That's my children. I like that. I want them to have that freedom. I think it's more security than its is annoying. I just feel better knowing that if they need me I'm available all the time' 'One woman described getting caught in traffic and not being home by the time her children arrived from school. She called them on the cellular telephone and talked to them until she drove into the driveway. "This was security for them but it was also security for me since they'd never been home alone before.'" (Rakow and Navarro 1993, 153) Although new applications may be blamed for changing the traditional ways individuals relate, therefore bringing about, 'a sense of lost community, lost history', what is also demonstrated by the telephone and mobile phone is their 'ability to copy natural forms of human communication that depend on the living presence of humans' (Lucy 1994, 8). Mobile phones did not make fathers into caregivers during the day. In the hands of mothers, mobiles extended what was already a clearly defined responsibility. 5. What will Australian families do with future telecommunications? Isolation A picture painted by some futurists, economists and sociologists of telecommunications is that of a home which will become an isolated space dominated by machines. The home will be a totally autonomous unit with no need for interaction with the wider community. Shopping, education and work can all be done by home computers. Due to the personalisation of communications, (the personal computer, the walkman, the mobile phone) there is a fear that individuals will also become isolated from other family members. Postman(1992) is more dismal. He suggests that technology erodes social values such as respect for the wisdom of the elderly. Values of family unity and morality, based on the teachings of generations and a need to co-habit will be replaced by a fascination with technology. The ability to communicate across distance gives a further rationale for the separation of families. Home centred work It is probable that new telecommunications may well influence a shift to home centred work, reuniting the family and alleviating the difficulties of travel (Robins and Hepworth 1988). The benefits and problems are not yet clear. Home centred work may be a problem for 'women who have worked hard for an identity outside the home' and it may erode working conditions fought for by unions (Robins and Hepworth 1988, 164). However, Australian researchers Hearn et al (1993) found that the people they studied were very positive about home based work, because it would allow for flexibility in the work place. Katz agrees that home based work will lead to greater freedom from social controls that ... 'pressed for conformity at work' (1988, 85). Access to public information While some people fear that telecommunications and especially broad band technology will isolate the home from the public sphere it will also provide greater access for the family to public spaces and other households. These links will be especially significant for extended families. Furlong studied SeniorNet, 'the first telecommunications network designed specifically for older adults...[it] included a member directory, electronic mail, forum, conferencing, bulletin board, information database, financial services, library services, news and travel services..'(Furlong 1989, 116). She found that the computer network gave older adults a new sense of active involvement in the public sphere as well as a 'network of emotional peer support'(Furlong 1989, 115). Katz (1988) also discussed the importance of peer support. He predicts that new telecommunications will provide a wider interactivity between more diverse groups of society who now have more chance of 'linking up'. This will increase a sense of community for those with special interests. Internet is one example of such a network, though it is does not focus on family life. Currently, telecommunications help lines are supporting families through crises of marital conflict and issues of teenage rebellion. Greater accessibility to sources of help and guidance may decrease the anxiety many troubled families face in approaching outside organisations. Protection of privacy The flip side of this of course is that there will be greater access into the home by the public. As discussed earlier the mobile phone is already challenging the concept of personal space because it makes the user permanently accessible. New telecommunications which offer greater accessibility with full sound and vision may lead to a blurring of the public and private spheres and issues of privacy and information access are being been hotly debated. Hearn et al found in their Australian study that their respondents were very concerned about security and privacy and alluded to a society controlled by 'Big Brother' (Hearn et al 1993, 33). Gillard et al (1994) found that a sense of personal space, usually associated with the home, affected peoples' notions of the intrusiveness of the phone and their willingness to adopt new telecommunications. However most were able to control this intrusion by screening calls. Some resisted what they saw as technological control of their lives. 'I think you have to make choices when you decide to have one, you have to decide that it doesn't have to rule your life and it provides you with a choice whether you use it or not. I have something of a love hate relationship with telephones and technology because the fact that people can create it, and the fact that it is actually fun to use often gets me in but the other side of that is that it can be invasive... The telephone gives you no choice...we have grown up in this culture that says you must allow that electronic thing to dictate your behaviour and the demands that other people make upon you and that's rubbish you know.'(Gillard et al 1994b) Conclusion The history of telecommunications is a history of surprises. It is through social contacts and social learning that people incorporate new applications into their lives and major resistance is possible. When considering the impact of new telecommunications upon the family it is important to consider the social values which support family life. Families resist major change An English study of twenty family households and their adaptation and use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) began with the notion of a family as a kind of 'moral economy'. Each family studied placed different emphases on values and practices that sustained their joint life. The 'moral economy' determined how ICTs linked the family sphere to the wider community, and how they were shared internally. Silverstone and Hirsch (1991) concluded that new ICTs produce very little dislocation when they are adopted by the family. When first introduced the novelty value may change behaviour slightly and for a brief time. Once the novelty has worn off the family resumes their normal activities, their normal ways of behaving with each other and the outside world. The introduction of a new technology into the home doesn't challenge their existing ways of relating to each other. It becomes part of their everyday routines. It doesn't challenge who does the dishes, who takes charge of child care, and who takes out the rubbish. It doesn't change the relationships members want to have with others. In fact it is more likely to reinforce the family's values and activities. Valuing the family In their study of the implications of intelligent networks Hearn et al found that family values and the sustainability of family relationships were very important to those interviewed: 'there was a desire for family values to be improved to develop what was considered to be one of our greatest resources, children' (Hearn et al 1993). Also one of the greatest fears was that new telecommunications would inhibit personal interaction between family members. On this basis, it seems likely that new broadband services will be successful, as Hearn et al found that those interviewed perceived the future of their lifestyles with an intelligent network as being far more family orientated: 'the family unit would be more intact if information was available in the home and the family could stay together, work together, and be educated together' (Hearn et al 1993, 30). This possibility may not be attractive to every member of a family, especially those who find its values limiting on their own activity or independence. However, the research does underline the significance of family relationships in the ways people think about new communications. It suggests the importance of understanding the diversity of family formations and producing telecommunications which sustain what is valued within them. The question of the impact of telecommunications on family life may imply that 'families' are separate entitities, being acted upon by new applications which provide major links to the 'outside world'. However families are themselves networks of relationships in a continual flux of redefinition and transition. Telecommunications and social relations develop together. If new telecommunications applications threaten to upset the balance of the social environment in which we live, by challenging rules and accepted modes of behaviour, they are unlikely to succeed. At another level, policy decisions by humans who are more 'expert' about telecommunications will affect what is available to families in the first place. These experts need to know that life concerns, such as providing well for children and having regular contact with family members are paramount. The 'idea' of close family and community ties, remains the major 'driver' when people organise their lives at home using telecommunications. Research is decisive in its findings that there are important human values which should be expressed in the design and marketing of new applications if they are to be adopted wholeheartedly for use in the home and by family members 'at large'. 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