The Wired Homestead: An MIT Press Sourcebook on the Internet and the Family

Abstract

The second part, "On Parents and Kids," consists of a varied collection of essays that examine two different streams: parental issues with the Internet, and the integration of the Internet into traditional family relations. Maria Papadakis' article, "Data on Family and the Internet," emphasizes the need to critically examine any research findings on what the Internet may mean for family values, stating that these findings remain questionable, contradictory, and inconclusive. Amy B. Jordan puts forward family systems theory as a method to understand the Internet's presence in the existing "media mix" already at home, arguing along the lines of Berger & Luckmann (1966) that "the reality of everyday life maintains itself by being embodied in routines" (p. 142). The aforementioned articles are combined with discussions of family media use and effects in Europe and issues often covered in the mainstream press (sex and pornography, addiction, cybercrime, information privacy). The final section of the book, "The Wired Homestead and Civic Life," looks at community. Notions of public and private and research into the Internet's role in community are key themes. In Jorge Reina Schement's insightful article on the interplay between home, community, and new media, he comes to the ominous conclusion that "as Americans carve out home-centered, individualistic, information-heavy approaches to their personal lives, they are by-passing traditional community and the public sphere" (p. 418). This conclusion is countered by Kavanaugh's study of the Blacksburg Electronic Village in Virginia, and Keith Hampton and Barry Wellman's research at Toronto's Netville, where early research results found that the Internet may support social community ties. Research on the Internet's influence on community is inconclusive, but the final section of the book offers several theoretical and practical research directions for future exploration.