Technology has negatively contributed in growing a divide between parents and children. Over the past two decades, children who, for example, watch television, have directly or indirectly received messages from popular culture telling them that parents are selfish, immature, incompetent, and generally clueless, for example, from Malcolm in the Middle, Tool Time, Family Guy, Two and a Half Men, and I Hate My Teenage Daughter, not to mention reality TV shows such as Super Nanny and the Housewives franchise.
This divide has grown due to the increased use of technology among children in several ways. Children’s absorption in technology, from texting to headphones on or earbuds inserted, children are less likely to engage with their parents in any way, whether a simple greeting or a lengthy conversation.
This ad on Mother’s Day shows the growing barriers between blood relations:
Interestingly, parents have attempted to counteract this growing divide not with actual face-to-face communication with their children, but by joining their children in cyberspace. A phenomenon that has caused considerable debate involves parents “friending” their children on Facebook (about 50 percent).
Another major fact is that family life has changed in the last generation quite apart from the rise of technology. The size of homes has grown by 50 percent, meaning family members can retreat to their own corners of the house, so there’s less chance that parents and children will see each other.