Technological Tethering, Digital Natives, and Challenges in the Work–Family Interface

ABSTRACT

This paper uses data from a 2011 survey of Canadian workers to examine complications in the work–family interface due to the rising expectations of constant connectivity – that is, technological tethering – between work and home domains. We analyze whether the relationship between job contact outside of normal hours and work-to-family conflict is differently experienced by cohorts of digital natives versus digital immigrants. Digital natives’ unique upbringing in a technology-driven sociocultural landscape has led to widespread assumptions regarding their heightened ability to handle communication demands delivered via work extending technologies. However, we find that being a digital native does not weaken the focal relationship, irrespective of additional gender and occupational status contingencies. We discuss the implications of this null finding for theoretical views about digital natives, as well as for communication practices in the modern workforce.

KEYWORDS:

• Work-family conflict
• job contact
• technology
• cohort
• digital native
• millennial

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank our colleagues from the 2016–17 sociology research practicum at the University of Toronto, as well as Ronit Dinovitzer, Melissa Milkie, Candace Kruttschnitt, and Markus Schafer for their helpful suggestions and comments.

Disclosure Statement

There is no financial interest or benefit arising from the direct applications of this research.

Notes

1. These terms have been increasingly spread through news and popular media. Figure A1 (Appendix A) shows search results from media publications in the Factiva database from 2002–2016, highlighting increased usage of these terms over time. This reflects a social shift toward the common adoption of such labels for the Millennial generation.

2. Supplementary analyses were conducted using a three-category cohort variable that distinguished between older digital immigrants (born 1922–1959; n = 1,410), younger digital immigrants (born 1960–1979; n = 2,489), and digital natives (born 1980-1993; n = 671). We found no significant differences between the three groups when testing the effect of cohort on the relationship between job contact and WFC—that is, the oldest digital immigrants were not more negatively affected by technological tethering than the other groups. Additionally, linear predictions of WFC for the three groups were similar with insignificant differences in slopes (Figure C1; Appendix C). The results of these analyses further justify our use of a dichotomous cohort variable that aligns with the existing literature.

3. To evaluate the possibility of work extending technologies offering advantages in terms of reduced exposure to family-to-work conflict (FWC), we ran a supplementary multivariate analysis using FWC as an outcome. We found a positive association between job contact and FWC, which was not moderated by cohort. We also pushed this idea further by considering gender differences through a test of an interaction between job contact and gender, which was statistically significant (p < 0.01). We found that while women do experience higher levels of FWC than men, the positive job contact–FWC relationship is weaker for women. This suggests a gendered nature for FWC when it comes to technological tethering, such that mobile technologies may be considered flexible tools for balancing roles and minimizing interruptions from family when women already have greater domestic labor demands. Future research should pursue a further understanding of the promises and complications of technological tethering with regards to the intersection between FWC and gender.

4. We conducted a supplementary analysis whereby we removed all cases born before 1960, reducing the age range to 18–51 (n= 3,160). There were no changes in the main effects, which serves as evidence against age, in terms of physical or cognitive decline, as a possible explanation for our findings.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) under GRANT: MOP-102730; PI: Scott Schieman.

Notes on contributors

Andrew D. Nevin

Andrew D. Nevin is a PhD candidate in the Department of Sociology at the University of Toronto. His research addresses the social implications of the Internet and technology, including topics of technology use at work and home, cyber-deviance, hacktivism, online communities, and digital inequality.

Scott Schieman

Scott Schieman is a Professor and Canada Research Chair in the Department of Sociology at the University of Toronto. His research focuses on the social psychology of inequality and its relationship to health outcomes. He is the lead investigator of the Canadian Work, Stress, and Health study (CANWSH), a national longitudinal study of workers.