Family Relationships: Implications of Smartphone Use Among Kenyan Adolescents

• In Event: Children, Adolescents, & the Media Division - Research Escalator Sessions (Panel 2)

Abstract

Technologies change the way we live and communicate with each other in the families. There are many studies which explore new technologies and its implications on different aspects of lives. According to Communication Authority of Kenya, in 2015-16, 39.7 million people are using mobile phones and the mobile penetration is 90.0%. To date fewer studies have been carried out in the East African region on the implications of technologies on family relationships. The study aims to know how parents and adolescents relate in the families and to what extend the smartphone use has affected the family bonding such as attachment, connection, emotion and closeness. Studying adolescents’ relationship in the families is significant because “relationship developed in the families play an integral part in the learning how to function and interact in the society” (Kennedy-Eden, 2014). This study will use qualitative data collection method which includes interviews and focus group discussions.

Author

• John Britto Rajendran, Daystar U