Social media use in intra-familial communication : exploring how Singaporean families negotiate the use of social media in their communicative relationship(s)

Abstract

Singaporeans are one of the heaviest users of social media in the world and many are affluent enough to own portable devices such as smartphones with data plans to use it frequently. With its increased usage and technological development, it has facilitated the creation of an alternative virtual platform for human interaction and communication. Considering that the family commonly forms a person’s primary communicative network, this exploratory research study aims to explore how families in Singapore, in particular parents and children, negotiate the use of social media in their communicative relationship(s). The analytical framework of the functionalist perspective and Family Systems Theory was used as a vantage point to examine Singaporean ‘normative’ families. A typology of at least three types of approaches taken by normative Singaporean families to social media was found, which can provide the basis for continued research on other Singaporean family types and intergenerational communication.