The net at home : a sociological inquiry into internet use, family and the domestic space

Abstract

The principal aim of this study is based on the number of accounts, which various relatives and friends of the author shared with him about how they were experiencing the use of the Internet in their homes. The thought behind this research has been to explore scientifically the experience of the Maltese family in this scenario. Although the literature reviewed shows that Internet use studies have been analysed from different angles, there are still aspects that have not been explored. There exists no deep qualitative research which can throw light on this phenomenon. An important issue which has not yet been explored enough is tied to the experience of the use of the Internet in the home and the impact it is having on the dynamics of family life. This study is therefore the first, local, tentative qualitative research of its kind, one that is exploring the phenomenon that the Maltese family is experiencing. To reach its aims, this study had to apply a Research Design which contains all the tools necessary to collect both primary and secondary and data. It was therefore decided to apply a phenomenological approach with aspects of narrative-ethnography. This approach has three methods incorporated in one: A) interviews based on a Single Question Aimed at Inducing Narrative Approach, (SQUIN) and the Convergent Interviewing Approach, B) the use of Time Diaries (revisit) based on a Longitudinal Study Approach and C) a style of writing based on the narrative approach whereby it relates what is happening and not just convey information. As this study is directly tied to the Maltese family, and due to the fact that nowadays it is very difficult to define a family as there are diverse opinions of what the term “family” means, it was necessary to find out the types of families existing in Malta today. Six types of families have been identified for this study, namely: The Traditional / Nuclear families (including families with members with special needs), the Joint-custody families/ Cohabiting families, the Single – parent families, (Males and Females), the Child – free families, the Blended/Step-families / Reconstituted/Reestablished families, and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) families (Males and Females). This research is composed of 3 samples: 1) The General Families Sample, composed of 36 families, made up of 90 individual members, representing the 6 types of families; 2) The 6 Key Respondents Families Sample, also representing the 6 types of families; and 3) The Professional Experts Sample, composed of experts coming from the fields of Psychology, Psychiatry, Sociology, Morality, Philosophy and Architecture. The latter interpreted how the family and information technology evolved together, in the past 20 years. The information collected through the secondary data served as a background to the study, while the data collected during the interviews and the information from the Time Diaries produced salient proof of how the Internet at home is affecting families. The stories related by members of participating families, the reports of the professional experts together with the data collected from the Time Diaries during the summer and winter seasons, were all analysed in a thematic way. (Thematic Analysis) The main conclusions stemming from this research show that primarily, the use of the Internet in the home seems to be leaving an undesirable impact on family life. Accounts of participants, who look on Internet use in the home as a detriment to the family, were very salient. They mentioned particularly lack of interaction among family members, especially at times when they should be together, like at breakfast, lunch and supper, poor results in school tests and isolation. Though a negative aspect of the use of the Internet in the home dominated the study, other positive experiences were recorded, where the Internet helped family members to interact more because of the breaking down of time and space. Teleworking, more independent life amongst persons with special needs, and studying were amongst the salient aspects mentioned as being positive regarding Internet use at home.