Changes in the social networking sites (SNS) user landscape and its effects on future family dynamics

• Main Author: Leong, Yi Zhen
• Other Authors: Sun Hsiao-Li Shirley
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2017
• Subjects: DRNTU::Social sciences
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/69975
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Singapore has one of the highest social network penetration rates in the world, with millennials (born between 1980 and 2000) being the most prolific users of Social Networking Sites (SNS). While the usage of SNS is ubiquitous, existing research on family communication suggest that face-to-face (FTF) interaction is still the most preferred form of communication among families. Given the increasing relevance of SNS, this phenomenological study seeks to understand whether millennials’ existing SNS experiences will influence their future family communication plans, and if SNS will play an equally important role in shaping future family dynamics as compared to FTF communications. Using the family systems theory and transformational model of social activity as analytical frameworks, the findings; based on eleven qualitative interviews with millennials, revealed that social constructions, technological constraints, and families’ values and beliefs have multigenerational impacts, as millennials still consider FTF communication to be more important than SNS facilitated interactions.