Family Systems in the Digital Age
Around the world, there are many different types of families, but all cultures have them. They play an integral role in how a society is structured and organised. Are we redefining family and kinship systems in the digital age? What role has information technologies such as the internet and social media played in changing our perspectives, opinions and views on families and kinship systems? Does it matter? What does the future hold for the family unit?
Your own views on what a family is, how they’re structured, the role of marriage and extended family are shaped largely by the society and culture you grew up in. The role of families is often shaped by geography, economics, industrial versus non-industrial societies, religion and belief systems and environment.
Information technologies like the internet and social media have played a significant role in enabling us to see into other cultures and as part of that, family structures and systems. Just how significant a role is difficult to know as there haven’t been any global studies on this subject that I am aware of.
We can surmise though, that this has also created tensions in some societies who feel that their traditional systems of family are threatened when changes start to happen. And a lot of change is happening right now.
We also know that the more technologies play a role in our world, the greater the division of labour, which, in a hyper-industrialised society, leads to greater specialisations in work. This has also lead to changes in social structures, creating greater isolation. As income gaps widen and industry demands are wanting people to work more for less, this impacts both work/life balance and our family dynamics.
Many of those who worked from home during the pandemic and want it to stay that way cite that the main reason as more time with family.
And of course, population declines in most of the world is having an affect. In Japan, we see the use of robots as companions for the elderly. Many of those elderly view these robots as family members. You can even rent a brother, sister or parents and children in Japan for social functions. Such is the pressures of population dynamics.
In Western industrialised nations, the idea of a family and marriage systems has, for a few hundred years, been shaped largely by religion and industrialisation. The commonly held view was that marriage was naturally between a man and a woman. This is driven by a religious viewpoint, but is not the reality of the world, or human history. Same-sex families and gender diverse families have existed throughout human history across many cultures and continue to thrive to this day. This will always be the case.
Because of the deeply held views of a society around how families are structured and “should be”, we can quickly become uncomfortable when unfamiliar family systems start to arise in the society we live in. Family and kinship systems help us orient ourselves in our patterns of living.
As we began to be exposed to, and learn about, different family systems around the world, some people saw another system from where they were and found it more appealing. Perhaps because they already found something they didn’t like in their own culture.
This has always happened throughout history. It just used to take a very long time, perhaps hundreds of years. We now know that humans have wandered about the planet a lot more and for far longer than we used to think. But travel was very slow. As transportation technologies evolved, so did the pace of cultural exchanges and ideas speed up. Today, the exchange of cultural ideas and social structures moves as fast as fibre-optic cables will allow.
Add to this that in recent years we’ve also seen some of the biggest migrations of people in human history. This means the cultural systems of different peoples suddenly come into other cultures in significant ways. Humans generally prefer to get along rather than fight one another. But we do tend to fight one another when cultural aspects collide.
One of the great things about a healthy democracy is that we find ways to live together through multiculturalism. It’s not always perfect. It can still mean conflict, especially if one group feels its cultural norms are threatened, even if they aren’t really. This is why we see the rise of Christian Nationalism, Hindu Nationalism and populism today. These sentiments are further fostered through online propaganda via social media and other communications technologies.
So how might family systems change in the digital age? It’s impossible to say for sure, but because of communications technologies, the increased division of labour, changes in income inequality and the exploration of how we define the family, changes are happening.
We will see many more interracial marriages, which is wonderful. Same-sex parents with children are starting to finally become normal in many countries. We are also starting to see transgender families evolving, also wonderful. Religions still have significant influence over family systems, but as we come to learn more about each other through digital mediums, this too, is likely to change.
We will always have family systems, just as we will always have belief systems. They are core to being human. We are already seeing an increased interest in polyandry, polygyny and other relationship systems. Social media have enabled people to become aware, share ideas and form into new kinship systems.
Gender roles, preferences and ideologies are also increasing. Diversity of gender has long existed in human societies, going well back to hunter-gatherer and foraging cultures. Many in Western nations struggle with understanding this because of the cultural taboos placed on gender definitions through religious beliefs.
Online discourse will play a role in these changes, both good and bad. Much hate speech and anger at same-sex marriages, transgender couples and different family systems comes from those who feel “their way” is the right way. These feelings are fostered through their participation in online groups where these toxic ideologies fester. Then they use online channels to target non-believers in their ideology and increasingly, in the physical world through acts of violence. The hopeful aspect though, is that these groups are small in reality and while they’ve always existed, they don’t win out in the long run. They never have.
