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Supporting the complex social lives of new parents

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Austin Toombs, Dr Kellie Morrissey, Dr Colin Gray, Professor John Vines, Dr Madeline Balaam

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).


Abstract

© 2018 Copyright is held by the owner/author(s). One of the many challenges of becoming a parent is the shift in one's social life. As HCI researchers have begun to investigate the intersection of sociotechnical system design and parenthood, they have also sought to understand how parents' social lives can be best supported. We build on these strands of research through a qualitative study with new parents regarding the role of digital technologies in their social lives as they transition to parenthood. We demonstrate how sociotechnical systems are entangled in the ways new parents manage their relationships, build (or resist building) new friendships and ad hoc support systems, and navigate the vulnerabilities of parenthood. We discuss how systems designed for new parents can better support the vulnerabilities they internalize, the diverse friendships they desire, and the logistical challenges they experience. We conclude with recommendations for future design and research in this area.


Publication metadata

Author(s): Toombs AL, Morrissey K, Simpson E, Gray CM, Vines J, Balaam M

Publication type: Conference Proceedings (inc. Abstract)

Publication status: Published

Conference Name: Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Year of Conference: 2018

Online publication date: 21/04/2018

Acceptance date: 02/04/2018

Date deposited: 27/06/2018

Publisher: Association for Computing Machinery

URL: https://doi.org/10.1145/3173574.3173994

DOI: 10.1145/3173574.3173994

Data Access Statement: http://dx.doi.org/10.17634/154300-66

Library holdings: Search Newcastle University Library for this item

ISBN: 9781450356206


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