Performing parenthood through digital communication technologies at school: the case of WhatsApp parents’ groups in Chile
Fecha
2024-04-17
Profe guía
Título de la revista
ISSN de la revista
Título del volumen
Editor
Bristol University Press
ISBN
ISSN
2046-7435
ISSNe
2046-7443
Resumen
Literature on parenthood has highlighted that parenting has become more intensive over the years. Using data from interviews with 36 parents and teachers of Chilean schoolchildren, we explore how parenting is performed in parents’ WhatsApp groups. This research is conducted from the approach of science and technology studies, as it allows us to focus on how everything/everyone has the potential to have the agency to affect and be affected by others. In our results we show that parenting within WhatsApp is performed by monitoring their children’s school agenda, comparing and competing with the performances of others, and portraying themselves as attentive parents. Through these comparisons, families engage in a form of lateral surveillance, contributing to the intensification of parenting. We discuss how this digital platform operates in an ambivalent manner, enabling caregiving to be exhibited as a manifestation of presence and availability, and as restlessness, intensity and demand.
Descripción
Lugar de Publicación
Sponsorship
ANID/FONDECYT REGULAR 1240606.
Citación
Families, Relationships and Societies, Vol. 13, N°2 (2024) p. 1-18.
Palabras clave
Parenthood, WhatsApp, Schools, Lateral surveillance
Licencia
Atribución-NoComercial-CompartirIgual 3.0 Chile (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 CL)