Reg No: C01/6255/2020

Name: Esther Kavuku Mwololo

Unit Code: ASC 301

Unit Title: Sociology Of Marriage And The Family

Task: Citing Examples, Discussion The Impact Of Technology In Marriage And The Famiy As A Social
Institution

Lecturer: Dr Stellah Masese

Technology is the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes. Technology has

both the negative and positive effect in marriage and family as a social institution. Dr. David

Schramm and assistant professor and also a specialist in extention family life did research on

how technology interferes with the marriage and family as social institutions. Dr. Dave said it is

inevitable that technology will creep into nearly every aspect of our lives. His survey results

showed that higher levels of technology influences the growth of family and marriage mostly

negatively.

Inappropriate use of technology may damage relationship of friends, family or even spouses.

Forexample imagine you are having a talk with family members or spouse and in the midst of

the conversation you pick your phone and you direct your attention in it. In any case, surveys

have proved that this behavior, especially when repeated over prolonged periods can be

devastating on relationships and the consequences are worse. Selecting the phone or television

or computer over your loved ones can put a lot of stress on the relationship, alienate affection

and leave your partner feeling unappreciated. A stretch of this behavior over months or years

can lead to greater conflicts, dissatification and possibly end of relation.

The positive impala of technology in family and marriage institutions are as follows: Has helped

in effective communication. Communication is the means of sending and receiving information.

Technology has made it easy for people to communicate with ease since people can still

communicate even in different geographical locations. Communication is important is

important in any relationship as it allows one to effectively share feelings, opinions, and

expectations. Therefore technology helps to bridge the gap by making conversations easier,
quicker and more efficient. For instance skype, facetime, WhatsApp, and many other videos

called apps have it easier than ever to stay in touch with loved ones, offer a level of

communication that phonecalls and text messaging simply can't compete with.

Technology has helped in bringing families and marriages together. In the old golden days

before technology was introduced family members only met at some events forexample in

weddings or birthdays but now technology has made it possible to connect with social media

groups. This has helped to bring the closeness of a family and hence promoted oneness. It has

helped also to save on time consultation and the expenses required for long distance

movements.

Technology has helped improve security system in the homes of family members. Unlike in the

past where people relied on domestic animals for provision of security which was not perfectly

effective modern technology has helped in improvement and effectiveness of security

production for families through the installation of emergency alarms as well as quick response

options help to bring the police or correspondent authority to be of rescue. The modern

technology has also emerged with the Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) in which signals are not

publicly distributed but are monitored, primarily for survellance and security purposes. Hence

peace is promoted amongst family members.

Technology has helped parents to keep the academic progress of the child at the comfort of the

house. Due to the busy schedule the modern parent seem to have it becomes about hard for a

parent to visit school regularly inorder to monitor the progress of his/her child. This has also

helped to save on the cost of traveling to school and also redeem of the scarce resource called
time. Hence the creation of school portals has come to the rescue of teacher,student parent

relationship.

Technology also serves as the source of entertainment to the family. Through mobile phones,

laptops, iPad, tablets,it is easier for members of the family to catch up with what they dim fit.

At times family members have great moments watching exciting television programs and this

helps in eliminating the boredom of life.

Negative impacts of technology are as follows: Lack of quality time spent together. This severely

affects performance of children who are brought up in a mechanical environment. It is

advisable for parents and children to interact and bond together after busy schedules in order

for the parents to win the trust of the children. But in modern families parents seem to be on

screen even during meals and hence have limited time to interact with their children and this

can be considered as one of the factors that has led to increased moral decay in modern days of

our society.

Limited outdoor activites. The inactive lifestyle of people in growing day in day out due to the

introduction of modern technology which is gradually replacing human labour. This has also led

to the increament of health issues among family members and often times leads to increase of

laziness among members of the family in a society.

Emergence of Technology has also led to the loss of jobs and increase in divorce rates. This is

because technology has hooked the society to the extension that some have become intenet

addicts hence some loss there jobs due to lack of maximum concentration on the ongoing

activity due to divided attention therefore they get fired for their recklessness and lack of
commitment something that they could have displined themselves. Due to modern technology

the divorce rates have increased in the society since most people are unable to bring balance

between the family and social media. Several couples have lost trust of one another considering

the fact that the dating sites have become numerous.

However this is not to say that we should give up on the modern Technology but instead one

should be aware of the ways and times that technology is needed negatively. Forexample when

spending time with people you care for, you should put the gadgets on silent mode, ignore

notifications which aren't urgent. Honestly it is okey to excuse yourself if need but constant

interruption of technology in social discussions can cause serious harm if not carefully

considered.
References

Ginsburg, K. (2006). The importance of play in promoting healthy child development and
maintaining strong parent-child bonds. American Academy of Pediatrics, 182-191.

Irwin, A. R., & Gros, A. M. (1995). Cognitive tempo, violent video games, and aggressive
behavior in young boys. Journal of Family Violence, 10, 335-350.

Johnson, G. M. (2010). Internet use and child development: Validation of the Ecological
Subsystem. Educational Technology & Society, 13(1), 176-185.

Kerawalla, L., & Crook, C. (December 2002). Children's computer use at home and at school:
Context and continuity. British Educational Research Journal, 28(6), 751-771.

Lee, K., Bernheim Brush, A. J., & Inkpen, K. M. (2009). Exploring communication and
sharing between extended families. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 67,
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Livingstone, S., & Bovill, M. (1999). Young people, new media: Report of the research project:
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