Are smartphones transforming parent-child everyday life practices? A cross-generational qualitative study comparing parents’ and early adolescents’ representations

Over the last decade, a substantial number of studies has aimed to understand the role of smartphones in parent-child communication as well as in youth cultures; however, little attention has been given to the systematic analysis of what dimensions of parent-child everyday life communication and practices have been transformed by the usage of smartphones. The present study builds upon the Couple and Family Technology Framework (CFTF), to investigate parents’ and children’s representations of the impact of smartphones on family structure and process as well as the similarities and differences between parents’ and children’s representations. Fifteen parents (9 mothers, 6 fathers; M = 46.07; SD= 4.25) and 15 early adolescents (7 females, 8 males; M = 11.73; SD = 0.46) participated in six focus. The analyses showed that: (a) parents of early adolescents use smartphones’ for several everyday life tasks; (b) according to both parents and children smartphones facilitate organizational tasks; (c) smartphones have more impact on family structure dimensions (especially, family rules and roles) than on family process dimensions (intimacy, formation and maintenance of relationships); (d) parents and children’s representations diverged only on structure dimensions; (e) gender differences with respect to smartphones representations emerged on both parents and children’s groups. These findings pave the way for further investigations on the role of smartphones in family dynamics and their practical implications on parents and children’s everyday life practices.