In Keeping Together Long Distance Families: Technology as a Social Actor, author Mădălina Ionescu examines the benefits that technology advancements has had on long distance families.
Ionescu’s study focused on Romanian children whose parents work and live in Western Europe, specifically Italy. At least 2% of Romanian children have at least one parent who works abroad. Prior to the many technological advancements, Romanian parents were forced to send written letters through the postal service in order to communicate with their children. This proved to be very costly and time consuming. Fortunately for these children and their parents, technology has allowed them to speak to each other every day. Parents who are abroad can now “participate” in their children’s lives.
The ability for parents to communicate with their children while working abroad is said to “revent and diminish social and emotional problems of children left back in Romania, to offer support for children and their family, and to improve school attendance.” It is clear that there could be negative effects on a child who has been separated from their parents. Parents are the ones who mold their children into the human beings they become and without those prominent figures in their lives setting examples for them, it can be very damaging.
Ionescu went on to describe the many forms of interaction that families can have using technology. She described Scoot and Doodle which gives people the ability to have ‘face-to-face’ interactions while drawing together. In the game Draw Something, “one person draws a random word while the other person guesses” what that drawing may be. These both seem like great ways to stay connected to a child and have fun with them. When hearing of these two platforms, I immediately thought of Netflix Watch Party, which gives users the ability to watch a show/movie on Netflix at the same time despite being distanced. Users can also chat during the program they are watching. This capability was released in 2020 at the start of the pandemic in order to help people stay connected. It goes to show that technology is always developing as people’s needs are changing.
I liked the topic of this article, and that reminded me of a famous vlogger in Asia. She’s a Chinese and she married to a husband from Korea. She had a baby recently, and due to the pandemic, her parents could not travel to accompany her. They just communicated through Internet. I had a mixed feeling when I saw her showed parents her baby by phone when she’s laying on the bed in hospital. Communication app is helpful and convenient, but nothing better than meet in persons. Back to the article, by using technology, parents may help to diminish social and emotional problems of children left back in Romania, however, if possible, go back often definitely would help more.