Gelisim News

With the coronavirus epidemic, perhaps the technological transformation that will take place in 10 years has been experienced rapidly within 6 months. Two sisters Asst. Prof. Dr. Özge Gürsoy Atar and Asst. Prof. Dr. Şebnem Gürsoy Ulusoy carried out a study about how technology affects family life. The research was carried out through in-depth interviews with married families and families with children. Giving information about the research, Asst. Prof. Dr. Atar said: “In in-depth interviews, we saw that families were negatively affected by the technological process and benefited from technology in areas such as education and shopping”. Asst. Prof. Dr. Ulusoy added: “Due to the advancement of technology, people have closed their homes in a way that blends with technology. The convenience provided by this technological transformation has turned us into home-dependent, real-life independent people without realizing it.”
 
“OURSELF IN THE HOUSES, OUR AVATAR IS MOVING OUTSIDE”
 
Speaking about his findings about the interviews, Asst. Prof. Dr. Özge Gürsoy Atar said, “In the in-depth interviews, we saw that families were negatively affected by the technological process and benefited from technology in areas such as education and shopping. It was revealed that communicating with each other through online communication channels with the elders of the family lacked some points on children. We have seen that domestic communication has been further interrupted face-to-face during the coronavirus process. Like in an Avatar movie, we sit in the house ourselves, but we send our avatar out via social media. We have found that people are physically imprisoned in homes, but they go out through social media, and this may negatively affect their psychology.”
 
SEEN AS A DIGITAL CARER: PARENTAL RELATIONS HAVE BEEN DISSOLVED
 
Atar pointed out that it is of great importance to strengthen communication with the activities of families with each other at home by limiting virtual communication a little more and said: “We see that social media and digital media tools are used intensely by children in this period. Parents started working from home. The mother cannot take care of the child; Therefore, social media and digital games started to be used a lot. Families started to see them as caregivers. This is why communication is limited. We should keep them away from digital, social media, with more family games. Families should also limit themselves because we have observed that parents are too depressed as a result of their escape, turning to social media and parents' relationships deteriorating.”
 
WE ARE AFFECTED BOTH POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE
 
Asst. Prof. Dr. Şebnem Gürsoy Ulusoy, from the School of Applied Sciences of Istanbul Gelisim University, who stated that they saw people confined to their homes in a way that blended with technology, said: “This process was reflected positively in many ways for the continuation of our work and the education of children. People were not unemployed, children were able to continue receiving education from home. The convenience provided by this technological transformation has turned us into home-dependent, real-life independent people without realizing it. The research came out at this point. While this process continued our daily routines, it also caused us to be a mother for 7-24 mothers and to continue our own business.”
 
ARE LARGER FAMILIES AT THE DEFEAT STAGE?
 
Pointing out that there is change and transformation in family communication with the epidemic, Ulusoy said, “Large families are very important in our society structure. Those big families are now falling apart. The process of getting together in large families which consists of grandmothers and grandfathers has evolved into virtual maternity toghether with corona era and technology. In this period, we cannot foresee how children who are in the young age group and those who have spent 1-2 years in this way will be affected by this, whether they will overcome this and what kind of mass will come in social terms. We can foresee that this unpredictable mass will experience limitations in family communication. This was a preliminary study, studies on this are continuing.
 
EVENTS SHOULD BE ORGANIZED WITH TECHNOLOGY
 
Referring to the fact that technology causes people to confuse their business and private lives, Ulusoy completed her words as follows:

“Families need to spare time for each other spiritually. Also for nuclear family; It is important to stay away from social media and spend productive hours with children at the same time of their work on the internet. 90 percent of grandmothers and grandfathers use technology. Especially, they can communicate face to face with their grandchildren on certain days and be included in their time. We must direct the digital environment in a way that sustains our own intra-family communication. It will be much more beneficial for families to organize activities that can continue to be together using digital technology. Especially in the father-child triangle, open space activities and puzzles where the mother and father will actively spare time for the child can be solved. Printed activities, book reading activities, can be produced at home using digital technology. I believe that this process will be overcome and we will return to normal. It is inevitable that this will have a social impact, especially on children aged 2-10.”