New book explores how digital technology is reshaping family life
Family Relationships in the Digital Era, published by Routledge, brings together leading researchers to examine how technology connects – and disconnects –modern families.
Rather than taking a stance on whether technology is good or bad for family life, the book synthesizes over a decade of research findings to offer a full, evidence-based picture of where things actually stand. Drawing on hundreds of studies, it identifies two enduring themes running through the research: first, how digital technology has changed the way families use time and attention, while also dramatically expanding how family members can stay in touch across distance; and second, how today’s digitally mediated family relationships still carry the evolutionary imprint of much older patterns of family life, patterns that persist despite rapid technological change.
“On the surface, family life today looks quite different from before the digital revolution,” says editor Kristiina Tammisalo. “But underneath, it’s still shaped by the same family psychology that evolved long before any of this technology existed. This book lays out what the research actually shows about that gap.”
The volume brings together expert contributors from across family studies, media studies, psychology, demography, and migration studies to explore how digital technology is reshaping relationships across the family life course. Among the topics addressed are chapters on partnering and childbearing decisions; parent-child and sibling relationships; and later-life relationships, extended families, and transnational family life. One chapter addresses a phenomenon that has received far less attention than screen use by children: parents’ own use of digital devices in family settings.
Family Relationships in the Digital Era is intended for a broad readership, including academics, educators, and policymakers, as well as anyone interested in how technology is shaping modern family life.
The book is open access and was produced in collaboration with the NetResilience research consortium, the INVEST Research Flagship Centre and the Department of Social Reseach at the University of Turku, and the Family Federation of Finland (Väestöliitto). This work was supported by the Strategic Research Council established within the Research Council of Finland, and the Association of Finnish Non-fiction Writers.
In addition, we acknowledge: The European Union—NextGenerationEU, the Department of Communities, Western Australia, and the Technical Working Group of the Milan’s Recommendations for the Well-being and Digital Safety of Children and Pre-adolescents project.
Tammisalo, K., Danielsbacka, M., & Tanskanen, A.O. (Eds.). (2026). Family Relationships in the Digital Era: How Information and Communication Technology Connects and Disconnects Us (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003653394
About the editors
Kristiina Tammisalo, Mirkka Danielsbacka, and Antti O. Tanskanen are researchers whose work spans family sociology, demography, and the study of technology’s role in family relationships.
About the publisher
The book is published by Routledge / Taylor & Francis Group, as part of the Routledge Research in Communication Studies series.
Media contact
Kristiina Tammisalo Senior researcher, Population Research Institute, Väestöliitto
kristiina.tammisalo@vaestoliitto.fi