Computer Widows and Orphans

Technology continues to change where, when, and how work is done. It affects the way we meet people, form unions, and function as families. The [Page 111]institutional interaction of work and family means that the way in which we work also affects the organization of the family. In the 1990s, David Watt and JamesWhite used the concepts of “computer widows” and “computer orphans” to postulate that the unhealthy use of home-based computers could produce the detrimental isolation of family members from each other. Wives were “widowed” by their husbands' computer use, and children were “orphaned” by their fathers. Home-based computers and other work-extending technologies may impact family well-being. History has come full circle by moving the institutions of work and family into close proximity.

For most of human history, home-based work was the norm for the family. Agrarian societies existed on relatively small plots of land, and rudimentary technologies such as hoes, shovels, and weaving looms were never far from the family home. With the advent of the Industrial Revolution, displaced farming families migrated to urban centers and took up factory positions away from the home to engage in the emerging cash economy. Today, the trend has shifted once again, with work increasingly conducted from alternative workplaces, including the home. Modern technologies, such as Internet-enabled smart phones, tablets, and computers, have replaced telephone and fax machines as potentially intrusive devices. Early research in the area of telework was embedded in a more traditional, functionalist context in which men were the prime breadwinners and women provided the bulk of home and child care.

As boundaries between work and family dissipated with the proliferation of mobile technologies, conflict between the domains increased. With weakening boundaries between work and family domains, the focus of researchers was primarily on the negative side of the work-family interface. Males, relative to females, were more likely to have a computer at home and embraced more favorable attitudes toward them. Males were the primary users of these new technologies and used them to work longer hours, whereas women who utilized them saw them as a means to enhance work-life balance. Concern for child well-being was also a focus of earlier research, with dual-career couples with children showing higher levels of role conflict, particularly for women. Today, the landscape continues to be fluid. Gender differences are diminishing, and the presence of dependent children is less of a predictor of negative work-family spillover. More recent studies suggest that the use of information and communication technologies may enhance family interaction by allowing family members to stay in touch with one another and micromanage daily family schedules on the fly. Current research points to the extent or frequency that home computers and other telework technologies, particularly wireless mobile devices, are used as the biggest predictor of negative family impact, regardless of the user's gender or family composition. It is estimated that those who utilize home-based technologies for work at home spend from six to eight hours per week in work-related tasks.