Familiarity and Separation in the Use of Communication Technologies in South African Migrant Families

We explored the experiences of South African families across the racial divide regarding the burden of care of elderly parents of their emigrating children. The emergence of information and communication technologies has transformed these families’ abilities to stay connected despite distance and enables family members to maintain relationships of care in spite of physical separation. Total 23 families participated in the interviews of this qualitative study. We followed a family systems theoretical approached and analyzed the data according to the thematic analysis method developed by Braun and Clarke. The results reveal ambiguous relationships with technology, either positive or alienating and lacking intimacy. This article hopes to add to the emergent body of knowledge exploring the experiences of transnational families, as well as to underscore the manifold nature of human relationships in our increasing technological world.