Abstract
It becomes increasingly common for youth to help their parents use digital technology; a phenomenon called “intergenerational technical help” (ITH). This article aims to explore ITH in the family. We interviewed 20 college students who have experiences proving ITH to their parents. We used the grounded theory to analyze ITH from its triggering mechanism, specific behaviors, and outcomes. The main conclusion is that information and communication technology (ICT) usage level, facilitating conditions, and willingness to help are direct factors that impact ITH behavior, while parents’ age, occupation, cognitive level, performance expectancy, family relationship, technical dependence to youth, and self-efficacy also relate to how ITH takes place. We find that successful ITH helps parents to solve technical problems, bridge the digital divide, and improve intergenerational relationships. But interruptions or failures can significantly discourage the willingness of further ITH from both generations.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Prensky, M.: Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horiz. 9(5), 1–6 (2001)
Evans, C., Robertson, W.: The four phases of the digital natives debate. Human Behav. Emerg. Technol. 2(3), 269–277 (2020)
Prensky, M.: Digital natives, digital immigrants part 2: do they really think differently? On the Horiz. 9(6), 1–6 (2001)
Zhou, X.H.: Intergenerational gap in cultural return and media influence. The J. Jiangsu Adm. Inst. 16(2), 63–70 (2016)
Zhou, X.H.: Cultural feedback: child transmission that emerges in a time of drastic social changes. Sociol. Stud. 15(02), 51–66 (2000)
Zhou, Y.: Sociological study of the generation gap phenomenon. Sociol. Stud. 9(4), 13 (1994)
Wei, B.: The dynamics of modernization: the reverse socialization of youth. Contemp. Youth Res. 18(04), 31–34 (2000)
Gittell, R., Vidal, A.: Community Organizing: Building Social Capital as a Development Strategy. SAGE Publications, New York, USA (1998)
Wang, M., Yan, H.: Value of social capital on bridging accidental digital di-vide among rural residents: a field report from Jing Hai county, Tianjin. J. Libr. Sci. China 39(05), 39–49 (2013)
Williams, K.: The informatics moment: Grass rooting the space of flows in an urban branch library. In: iConference 2010, Springer, Champaign, IL, USA (2010)
Williams, K.: Informatics moments: digital literacy and social capital in civil society and people’s everyday lives. Publ. Libr. Q. 29, 47–73 (2012)
Qian, Z.C., Jang, X., Su, Y., Zhang, P.Y., Han, S.L.: Analysis on the influencing factors of tech help from the perspective of information stratification theory. J. Libr. Data 3(3), 17 (2021)
Putnam, R.D.: Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. Simon and Schuster, New York, USA (2000)
Reich, C.A.: The Greening of America: How the Youth Revolution is Trying to Make America Livable. Random House, New York, USA (1970)
Li, L.L., Guo, C.: Post-metaphorical culture: cultural feedback in the information age. J. Lover 31(01), 37–41 (2016)
Zhou, X.H.: On the significance of the cultural back-feeding of contemporary Chinese youth. Youth Stud. 11(11), 22–26 (1988)
Zhou, Y.Q.: The digital generation gap and cultural feedback: a quantitative examination of the “quiet revolution” within the family. Pattern Commun. (J. Commun. Univ. Chin.) 36(2), 117–123 (2014)
Wang, Q.: The digital gap and the digital feedback: an empirical research on the relationship of the use of new media and parent-child relationship, M.A. Thesis. Chongqing: Chongqing University (2017)
Wan, L.H., Liu, J., Wen, X.: Cultural feedback among adolescents: re-examining communications and education in a family setting-A quantitative study on the digital divide and cultural feedback of adolescents in a family setting. Future Commun. 25(3), 45–52 (2018)
Liang, F.: Generational differences in the use of WeChat in rural households and digital back-feeding: Based on an interview in Longxia Village, Wanzhou, Chongqing. J. News Res. 12(09), 29–31 (2021)
Venkatesh, V., Morris, M.G., Davis, G.B., Davis, F.D.: User acceptance of information technology: toward a unified view. MIS Q. JSTOR 27, 425–478 (2003)
Chen, X.M.: Exploration of the application of grounded theory in Chinese social-cultural research. Peking Univ. Educ. Rev. 13(1), 2–15 (2015)
Strauss, A.L., Corbin, J.M.: Basics of Qualitative Research: Grounded Theory Procedures and techniques, 4th edn. SAGE Publications, New York, USA (2014)
Glaser, B.G., Strauss, A.L.: The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research, 3rd edn. Routledge, London, UK (2017)
Zheng, C.Y., Xu, X.J.: Research on the mechanism of digital feedback: taking the use of short videos by post-95s and their parents as an example. Chin. Youth Study 31(03), 12–17 (2019)
Nelissen, S., Van den Bulck, J.: When digital natives instruct digital immigrants: active guidance of parental media use by children and conflict in the family. Inf. Commun. Soc. 21(3), 375–387 (2018)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Sheng, M., Wang, J., Zhu, X., Zhang, P. (2023). An Exploratory Study of Intergenerational Technical Help from the Youth’s Perspective. In: Sserwanga, I., et al. Information for a Better World: Normality, Virtuality, Physicality, Inclusivity. iConference 2023. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 13971. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-28035-1_30
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-28035-1_30
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-28034-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-28035-1
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)