The Couple and Family Technology Framework

Intimate Relationships in a Digital Age

Katherine M. Hertlein, Markie L. C. Blumer

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781136175732
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Mental Health in Psychology
• Index: Psychology

Couples and families worldwide have a constant electronic connection to others, a fact that is influencing the concerns and issues they bring to therapy. The authors of this resource help mental health practitioners to better deal with concerns such as online infidelity, online dating, internet addictions, cyber bulling, and many more by introducing the Couple and Family Technology (CFT) framework, a multi-theoretical approach that doesn't require clinicians to change their preferred clinical approach.
The CFT framework acknowledges the ways in which couples navigate their relationship with technology and a partner simultaneously, and it attends to, and in some cases incorporates the role of technology in therapeutic ways. Included in the authors' discussion of how different technologies affect relationships is
•a survey of what individuals' motivations of usage are
•an examination of the specific issues that emerge in treatment
•a study of the risks particularly relevant to intimate relationships, and
•an introduction of the first-ever technology-based genogram.
They also examine technological usage across different developmental points in a couple's lifespan, with attention given throughout to people from various cultural backgrounds.
Along with the CFT framework, the authors also introduce a new discipline of family research: Couple and Family Technology. This discipline integrates three broad perspectives in family science and helps therapists maintain a systemic focus in assessing and treating couples where issues of the Internet and new media are problematic. Online resources can be accessed by purchasers of the book and include videos, additional case studies, glossary, and forms.

1 Couple and Family Technology

The Emergence of a New Discipline

When I took office, only high energy physicists had ever heard of what is called the Worldwide Web…. Now even my cat has its own page.

—Bill Clinton

The Prevalence of Technology in Daily Life

A short time ago, I (K.H.) was having dinner at a local restaurant with a colleague. As we sat and talked, I could not help but notice a couple sitting together at a table just behind my companion. They appeared very much in love: They spent some time holding hands, facing each other, gazing in each other's eyes, and smiling at one another a good proportion of the time. Then, as the dinner continued, I noticed the emergence of their mobile phones. At first, the involvement of the phones seemed rather innocuous: one person brought out a phone to show his partner something, and the phone was quickly put away. As I continued to observe them, new media made an increasing presence in the date. After taking photos of the meal and making it most of the way through dinner, one of the phones made another appearance at the dinner table. One partner offered the phone to the other to view something on the screen. This continued for several minutes. By the end of the meal, their phones had made another appearance, but in a different way. The couple stopped talking to one another; one partner was sitting at the table, and the other was positioned with her body away from the table and, consequently, her partner. Each had a cell phone in hand, and they were seemingly not engaged with one another. They both appeared to be scrolling through options and reading things on their independent screens. This continued for several minutes, and they appeared so disconnected to me that I wondered if I had missed an argument and they were no longer speaking. After the check was paid, however, they put away their phones, smiled at one another, and left the restaurant quietly, hand in hand.

As interesting as this couple's behavior was to me, my observations about couples and technology at this one restaurant are not unique. Airports, universities, grocery stores, and even driving down the street provide us with ample opportunities to observe the extent to which new media and technology are integrated into our personal lives. Whether we are eating, socializing, or working, couples and families worldwide have a constant electronic connection to others and often exercise that connection in a variety of contexts, even on a dinner date.

The ways in which technology and new media have become a fabric of our everyday lives in general are undeniable when the numbers tell the story. The world population is increasing dramatically. Of the nearly 7 billion people in the world, just over 2 billion people are online (Internet World Stats, 2011), a 484% increase over the last decade. In North America, an estimated 78% of the 3 million citizens (approximately 245 million) are regular users of the Internet, making up only 13% of the Internet users worldwide. North America also boasts a higher percentage of penetration than any other region in the world. Some countries, such as China, have a fewer proportion of their population using the Internet (36%), however, this is a percentage that actually represents a higher number of actual users at 485 million. The majority of Internet users actually (44%) reside in Asia, followed by Europe (22.7%), North America (13%), Latin America/Caribbean (10.3%), Africa (5.7%), the Middle East (3.3%), and Oceania/Australia (1%) (Internet World Stats, 2011).

The predominant presence of technology is also apparent in the development of a new lexicon integrated into contemporary society. Terms such as www, http, LOL, blog, and webcast have become woven into our vernacular. In late 2011, the Global Language Monitor reported that Web 2.0 was officially accepted as the 1 millionth English word, following the addition of sexting, noob, cloud computing, and defriend. Furthermore, a number of in-print and online dictionaries have emerged to assist with translating words related to technology and social media. Webopedia,¹ for example, is a website dedicated to defining terms for the business professional who has to interact with computers regularly. Some functions of this site include a term of the day, a search engine for particular terms, a quick reference page, and a blog. In fact, the benefit of online dictionaries over in-print versions may be that the online versions can more readily keep up with the new terms in an ever-changing field, with the English language creating one new word every 98 minutes (Global Language Monitor, 2011).

Advances in information communication that have also contributed to language are conceptualized as a new form of literacy (Leu, Kinzer, Coiro, & Cammack, 2005). Imagine a situation in which, for example, you travel to a different country and are not familiar with the language: While you may be able to get around, it will take you more time, and it is likely you will miss out on some important resources that could guide you along the way. Literacy with regard to the growing digital world is similar. The less literate one is in the world, the more time it will take one to navigate through that world efficiently. This literacy is generally classified as two different types: electronic literacy (i.e., knowledge about how to access resources and participate in online activities) and technological/computer literacy (i.e., knowledge about how to navigate an actual computer and other new hardware; Cohen & Cowan, 2007; Topping, 1997). This development is important when one considers that its adoption is a critical mechanism to acquiring knowledge and using resources (Leu et al., 2005): The less literate one is, the more challenging it will be to acquire new skills and move about in the digital world efficiently. In short, the emergence of technology and new media has shaped our communications with one another on multiple levels.

A Technological Revolution

Hoffman, Novak, and Venkatesh (2004) wrote that

we seem to be in the midst of an Internet Revolution and entering an era of enhanced digital connectivity. The pace of social change resulting from the diffusion of this technology, both in the United States and globally is by many accounts dramatic. In less than ten years, the Internet has become indispensable to many people in their daily lives. (p. 2)

Technology is clearly a phenomenon that is well integrated into society and whose impact on society has previously been characterized as revolutionary (Hughes & Hans, 2001).

A communications revolution, as described by Robert G. Albion, focuses on the extent to which a society can grow through changes in communication technologies. Part of this claim dealt with the assumption that the growth of America was going to be largely dependent on the communication technology and the infrastructure to support it (Behringer, 2006), thus underscoring a communications revolution. Albion (as cited in Behringer, 2006) argued,

The change in communications has knit the world closer together. It has widened the horizons of every community, partly through the rapid dissemination of news and partly through the breaking down of provincialism with new facilities for travel. It has been of vital importance in opening up the wilderness and in linking together the far flung possessions of the world empires. (p. 335)

This quote could also be applied 80 years later to describe the profound impact technology has on daily life. Advances in cellular technology, accessibility and affordability of Internet services, and the ability to reach out to international venues have mimicked the general increases and changes outlined by earlier communication revolutions.

Like the Industrial Revolution, the technological revolution is characterized by specific and obvious changes that occurred within daily and family life. One change was the development of new ways to accomplish tasks and receive information more quickly (Appleby, 2010; Bargh & McKenna, 2004). For example, researching and gathering information on particular topics is accomplished now primarily from the comfort of one's own home rather than by physically commuting to a local library. Writing letters or placing phone calls to communicate with one another can be accomplished with a quick e-mail or text message rather than requiring the time investment of a phone call or a letter sent through the U.S. Postal Service. We can also receive information merely by entering search words or checking electronic mailboxes more quickly than we can by waiting to connect with someone in person.

The Industrial Revolution and technological revolution also found ways to transmit messages to loved ones at a significantly reduced cost and more quickly. One of the key factors by which Albion characterized the communication revolution was the speed with which information was received (Behringer, 2006). While Albion was referring to changes in the U.S. Postal Service in the late 1700s, in today's society, information is transmitted nearly instantly. E-mail, instant messaging programs, and communication through social networking sites can be accomplished at a monthly cost with an Internet service provider. Communication can be accomplished through shared sites and lists, such as calendars, shopping lists, and other applications that allow information to be shared with a certain group of people. Messages can also be transmitted through video channels in a way that was not experienced previously for little to no cost. Prior to the development of free video conferencing, the ability to see friends and family who lived distantly from each other was only accomplished through expensive programs or through making travel arrangements. In today's world, however, the ability to see loved ones through web and video camera services is now open to people from a wide variety of financial and social backgrounds.

Both revolutions have also had some effect on family structure and process. After the Industrial Revolution, family structures changed from predominately extended families to a nuclear version of the family (Bengston, 2001). The technological revolution, however, has reintroduced the value of extended families into daily life with the ease and accessibility of maintaining communication over broad geographical distances (Bacigalupe & Lambe, 2011). Process changes occurred in both revolutions in that there was a period of difficulty differentiating between work and family time (Kennedy, Smith, Wells, & Wellman, 2008; Rapoport & Rapoport, 1965). In the Industrial Revolution, the primary time for work was during the week, and weekends began to move toward family time. In the technological revolution, this concept is known as negative work spillover (Chelsey, 2005) or a crossing of the work-family boundary. The specific intrusion of technology and employment responsibilities into one's personal life (for example, moving from a clear 40-hour Monday through Friday work week to responding and working at various times throughout the entire week) has been termed technoinvasion, which subsequently increases anxiety and decreases productivity (Tu, Wang, & Shu, 2005). Specifically, the more pressure one feels with regard to technology at work, the more likely one will be to experience interference at home and experience work-family conflict (Harris, Marett, & Harris, 2011).

There is, however, one key difference between the revolutions: The Industrial Revolution was highly visible, whereas the technological revolution seems to be somewhat insidious. In the Industrial Revolution, obvious changes to society included the development of larger and taller buildings, the presence of women in the workforce, and the development of new machines. The actual physical landscape changed rapidly and in very obvious ways. The technological revolution, is less conspicuous. The outside landscape has not changed as much as the landscape within the home. Activities have shifted from taking place outside of the home to inside the home with monitors, screens, and keyboards. Our lives and jobs may require the same skill set to accomplish, but the ways in which we accomplish them have drastically changed.

The Rise of the Machines

Computers and the Internet

A proportion of the impact of the Internet in our lives has in part to do with the integration of the personal computer into our lives. The projected 170 million personal computers to be purchased in 2010 was only half of the actual total purchased—an estimated 340 to 350 million worldwide (Thompson, 2011). Approximately 58% of married couples with children live in households with two or more computers. The U.S. Census reported that nearly 70% of the population surveyed had computers with Internet access at home in 2009, compared to 18% in 1997.² In fact, in my own home (K.H.), at one time, we had more computers than we had living...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• About the Authors
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• 1 Couple and Family Technology The Emergence of a New Discipline
• 2 The Basics of Online Coupling
• 3 Issues E-merging in Couple Life
• 4 The Couple and Family Technology Framework
• 5 Ecological Influences on the Couple System
• 6 The Interactional Nature of Structure and Function
• 7 Assessment in the CFT Framework
• 8 Treatment of Internet-Based Problems Through the CFT Framework
• 9 Electronically-Mediated Communication Across a Couple's Developmental Lifespan
• 10 Technology, Risks, and Relationships
• 11 Final Thoughts on Technology and Relationships
• Appendices
• Index