| In 2015, a Pew survey estimated that 68% of Americans owned a smartphone and 45% owned tablets (Anderson, 2015). Although people are increasingly dependent on these portable devices that provide mobility, the majority of media is still consumed in the home (Common Sense Media, 2013; Nathanson, 2015). Within the family, parents experience the blurring of work and personal life through the flexibility that Internet-connected mobile devices offer and often struggle to navigate these domains (Nam, 2014). Meanwhile, adolescents are exploring identity, completing schoolwork, and developing and maintaining friendships via technology (boyd, 2015). Indeed, technology has become an inevitable and important part of the fabric of most American families. Despite the increased adoption of technology, research suggests it has mixed effects on well-being. Technology can help family members communicate efficiently, multitask, regulate moods, and facilitate social support (Carvalho, Francisco, & Relvas, 2015). For adolescents, developing in the digital age has enabled increased autonomy through easy access to peer networks, but it can also increase parental monitoring (boyd, 2015). Similarly, while technology can expedite communication and information sharing that enhances positive emotional connections (Carvalho et al., 2015), it can also contribute to surveillance and diminished faceto-face communication that can fuel stress in families (McDaniel, 2015). Heavy technology use in particular has been associated with depression, loneliness, anxiety, and narcissism (Rosen, Whaling, Rab, Carrier, & Cheever, 2013). Although scholars have begun to understand how technology use affects individuals psychologically, much less is known about how it affects them physiologically, especially within families where multiple members are using technology simultaneously. The current study addresses this void in the literature by focusing on how technology use, and the type of technology used, affect biological stress responses (measured through cortisol) and immune systems (measured through the pro-inflammatory marker, interleukin IL-6) of dual earning parents and their adolescents (ages 13e18). An affordances approach is used to explore distinctions in both the role and the effects of technology on family members’ stress. The impact of technology and media on stress in families is a pressing issue given the increasing number of dual career households with adolescents in which all members tend to live fastpaced lives (i.e., busy lifestyles replete with obligations of balancing work and family and extracurricular activities) and where everyone is “wired” most of their waking hours. |
