Beyond the Age of Leverage: Alternative Cures for the

Global
soon.

Information age changes family life, values

By Chang Hye-kyung

1. Introduction

Information age changes family life, values

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 Imagine the not-too-distant information-based society. Robots will do
the housework, and one will have access to and operate various
electric home appliances from the office. After medical information is
automatically gathered without you noticing, your information will be
sent directly to a hospital, where remote tele-robotic surgery can be
performed. Thanks to the development of digital technology, the world
has been experiencing a rapid transition - from an industrial society to
an information society. Network formation and information
standardization have led to the development of a new kind of
infrastructure. At the same time, the emergence of network society
has changed smaller components of society, such as people's culture,
their relationships and their characteristics.

These internal and external changes have had huge effects on the
form and scope of the family, the basic unit of society. Also, they have
weakened the meaning of an individual as being part of a family.
Instead, an individual forms his or her own "family" through various
relationships in cyberspace. This virtual reality supports the formation
of unforeseen networks and connections, new lifestyle types and social
concepts, such as new capitalism, new liberalism and social
fragmentation.

With this in mind, in 2007, I undertook a study with my colleagues on

how family life and the environment change in the digital age and how
the change alters the original form and function of a family. Through
this research I hoped to illustrate a new concept of family. This article
introduces some of the findings of that research.

2. Changes in IT and family life

For a long time, the family has been the basic element of social
reproduction, as well as the place where one experiences forms their
most essential relationships. However, the meaning of family has been altered, as it became
deeply intertwined with the process of social change, and these changes will continue in the future.

Measured through strong blood ties, family values in traditional society have functioned as the
essential factors in managing changes in a family. Industrialized society, whose labor market has
been reconfigured through rapid technological change, has brought changes in the family. Now, in
the digital society, which is characterized by a high degree of uncertainty and mobility, the
boundaries and meaning of the family are facing challenges as new cultural aspects emerge.

In an information-oriented society, the direction of change in a family is determined by two

different factors. The first is the diversity of a family's functions and the complexity in satisfying
new desires. The other is its tendency to maximize the satisfaction level and efficiency of functions
ensuring authentic identity and performing teamwork among competitive relationships that are
variously rising. The other is the tendency for a family to maximize satisfaction and functional
efficiency by establishing its own identity or acting as a team in an increasingly competitive social
environment.

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The meaning and direction of changes in the modern family, caused by the development of
information technology and the extension of network, are multiple. For instance, family members'
communication is increased by technological development. At the same time, an individual's life
within the family is more facilitated, and can result in the decrease of family unity and dependency.

Also, the trends in information-oriented society and autonomy decrease the hours of labor spent at
home and in places of work. Due to this decrease, it is true that individuals have much more
leisure time, but time and energy put into relationships within network society are also increasing.
Therefore, the ways to accommodate and manage the ambiguous characteristics of the
information-oriented society will create various products, depending on the abilities of the
individual, the family and the social culture.

Within the rapid development of information-oriented society, changes in the family structure will
be beyond our imagination. Changes brought about by technological revolution and globalization
are changing society, culture, politics and economics because all of these are reflected in the basic
unit of the family. Based on the expectation and world perspective of the "digital generation," a
family will present a continued idea, formulation, relationship and function.

3. Changes in family values

1) From primary nuclear family to secondary nuclear family

Primary nuclear family: Through the transition from the agricultural to the industrial age, the
diversification of job types and workplaces has rapidly increased the nuclear family phenomenon.
As a result, people's values changed from those centered around the father to those founded on an
equitable husband-wife partnership or a parents-children relationship. One of the popular MBC-TV
weekend dramas, "What is Love" aired in 1992, represents a good example of the mixture of
parental and children values. In this drama there is a young man, the first born of his family, and
his paternalist father. The son marries a liberal woman. The drama portrayed the marriage and
then the story of the woman's family. If they were to live in the same place with the extended
family of the husband's side, the woman's liberal lifestyle would probably have changed to match
the husband's conservative lifestyle. However, they lived on their own as a nuclear family and
created their own harmonious family lifestyle by compromising their different values. Such a
formation brings up the generation gap between their parents and them and creates a disconnect
in communication with the parents' generation.

Secondary nuclear family: The primary formation of the nuclear family from the large family model
stayed as a simple unit of parents and children, but the secondary nuclear family formation shows
rather complicated forms such as a single group, DINK (double income no kids) and THINKERS
(two healthy income no kids early retires) group, DINK+pet group, DEWK (dual employed with
kids) group, and transnational family.

As we observe various groups of secondary nuclear family formation, we see that some people
consider pets family members. Pets not only function this way, but are also considered actual
family members and given rights as heirs. For example on Aug. 20, 2007, in the United States a
realtor named Leona Helmsley bequeathed $12 million to her pet dog.

The important social issue in the secondary nuclear family formation is the demand of social
function. There has been a custom in the family where children are nurtured by the parents and

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later the children take care of the aged parents. Because of the dissolution of this custom, the
government must take responsibility for children's education and elderly care. The irony is that the
cause of the secondary nuclear family formation is economic development, which the government
has supported. At the same time the government is burdened by its responsibilities for education
and health care due to the formation of secondary nuclear families.

Overall, the changes in family values are the main reasons for the deeper change in the nuclear
family formation. Changes in the values of parents and children, husband and wife and sibling
relationships are speeding up. The starting point in every relationship is "me." When we start a
relationship with "me," we can put more meaning into relationships made through our choices. Our
traditional relationships with our grandparents and parents are not made through our choices. The
responsibilities and duties entailed by these traditional blood relations are often avoided.

2) Biological parents vs. parents as a family member

Conflicts between biological parents and their children are central in many fictional stories, dramas
and movies. But in the secondary nuclear family formation the meaning of blood relations is
diluted and more emphasis is placed on daily family relationships. As a result, the value of the
biological parents is becoming more flexible.

In the popular U.S. TV series, "Friends," biological parents appear together with a homosexual
couple to experimentally show the new form of a family. In "Friends" Season 1, a wife gets
divorced to live with her lesbian partner, and they raise the child together while the biological
father continues as a part of the child's life. This flexible acceptance of biological parents can bring
about negative social issues. But even though the value of blood relations is diminishing, humans
have an innate conscience of identity.

Therefore, because one cannot ignore the existence of biological parents as a part of her or his
identity, it is important for a society to take part in supporting a child in order to cope with the
complex relationships between biological parents and parents as family members. However, it is
not always negative.

It is often that a pregnant woman will choose abortion because of her antagonistic emotion toward
the biological father of her child. Especially in Asian values, a man who does not want marriage
would rather avoid the situation and prefer an abortion if he is going to be a father. Actually, there
is now a change within the relationships between family members, whereby the parent-child
relationship can be split into biological relations and daily relations.

3) Diverse marriage

relationships

Although it is still believed that marriage is concluded by building a special relationship, it is the
current trend that marriage doesn't have to last a whole lifetime; thus, the lifecycle of marriage will
shorten even more. Furthermore, we can observe diverse marriage relationships in real space and
cyberspace. Secondlife.com is a good example of the imaginary space. Secondlife.com allows
users to experience daily activities in cyberspace by creating their own spaces and by visiting other
people's created spaces. Although people may replicate their real lives in this space, they can also
create a brand new identity.

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Secondlife.com is not just limited to cyberspace and is designed for users to participate in real
economic activities. Announcing the exchange rate in real time, this website provides the currency
exchange service between U.S. dollars and "Linden Money," the currency in cyberspace. For
example, Ailin Graef, a Chinese-German woman, used an avatar named Anshe Chung in
cyberspace. She made more than $1 million, and transitioned it into real wealth. She was the first
successful case.

In addition, 53-year-old Rick Hujusrite of Phoenix, Arizona, is an example of the multiple-marriage

scenarios in cyberspace. He was a divorced man, who met a woman named Sue online about
three years ago. He remarried about seven months ago. Previously an elementary school teacher
and ski instructor, he now works in telemarketing earning $14 an hour. This is Rick in the real
world. On the other hand, his avatar, "Dutch Frendbick," proposed to and married "Tanya
Jackerof," the avatar of Canadian Janet Sperman three months ago. "Dutch" is a businessman
who has $1.5 million and lives in a house with a mortgage. He raises two dogs and enjoys
shopping and recreation.

If the number of the people who are sustaining multiple marriages in real and cyberspace is
increasing, it will be more difficult to set a priority between the two lives. If in Secondlife.com a 60
year-old man lives as a 20- or 30-year-old man, he may prefer his second life.

There are emerging new values of relationships and a change in the traditional relationship.
However, it seems that the principle of building a special relationship for marriage will be
maintained continuously. For example, homosexual couples are fighting for the legal right of
marriage. If "marriage" has been considered a one-on-one unification, it is clear that there can be
diverse changes in the forms of marriage. The authors of the imaginary space in the 21st century
expect that by the mid-21st century, "four-way weddings" will be recognized as legal in a court of
law. Therefore, people will be focusing more on what they can gain through these relationships,
rather than marriage itself.

4) Cyberspace relationship

Cyber relations or "cyberlations" are obviously evolving and developing along with the expansion of
cyberspace and the increased relationships built through it.

The keyword of the first cyberlation generation is "Co-Ownership." This includes co-ownership of
memories, hobbies, and information. For instance, alumni association websites, where people co-
own memories, became popular through this phase. "I Love School" was one of the major
websites where alumni networks were formed online. The success of this website plainly presented
the possibility of reconnecting broken ties in real life. Restoration of connections that seemed
almost impossible became possible through cyberspace.

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The second generation's keyword is "cord." This means that the formation of unified voices
regarding politics, society, culture and other various fields strengthens the web world. From then
the word "netizen" came to be used as a social stratum posing strong power. In the second
generation, formation of relations and activities occur in cyberspace, but it can present itself in the
offline world and powerfully influence political and social movements (For example, the 2002
presidential election and candlelight protests, etc.). The keyword of the third generation is "inner
circle." The convenience of connection-making through cyberspace has lead to an enormous
amount of relationships. People have thus come to realize the importance of having a small
number of continuous and in-depth relationships rather than numerous meaningless connections.
The function of building inner circle members in Cyworld has reflected such a shift, and became
the online site representing the third generation.

The growth of information technology is, for sure, supporting the creation of new imaginary spaces
and increasing the convenience for building new relationships. However, such a development is
merely a change of method in making connections, and it cannot be seen as promoting changes in
the relationship itself. For example, more real-life family members are seeking to improve
relationships through Cyberlation.

Due to increasingly globalized societies, more family members are living in physically separate
spaces, and information technology is being used as a solution for those who want to overcome
and cope with the separation. Currently we have internet phones and messenger programs for
face-to-face/visual communication, and in the near future it will also be possible to have such clear
communications with a distant friend that one will not notice the distance.

This technology is being developed for long-distance meetings and joint research. It will also be
useful for the improvement of relationships within a family. These technologies will also make it
possible to maintain biological family relations as well as meet people from the past. It may indeed
increase the desire to contact blood-related family members.

5) Values of future families

In the information-oriented society, people's expectations from relationships are changing. People
will make more effort to receive and feel comfort, love and care from an imaginary and online
world rather than from a real and offline one.

Comfort - absolute faith: Many people are in need of relationships for comfort. According to
"Megatrend 2010," one of the future keywords will be the "discovery of spirituality." According to a

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Gallup survey in 2004, 90 percent of Americans answered that they believe in God. When the
question in the survey was broadened to "Do you believe in God or a spiritual being?" the
percentage of believers went up to 95 percent. On the contrary, 50 percent of the Western
Europeans said yes to this question.

According to statistics, 60 percent of Americans have an absolute belief in God. After the Sept. 11,
2001 attacks, 57 percent of Americans came to think more about spiritual life. Also since 2001,
social phenomena such as war and depression have strengthened the role of spiritual leaders.
Therefore, living in a current society with much higher economic and social risks, people want
more comfort; however, it is becoming harder to find a connection that is able to function like the
traditional family. Comfort is sought online.

Love - psychological value: Because a desire for love penetrates through all generations, there is
no need to discuss it as new; however, it is important to understand that the forms of that desired
love may change as time goes by. As indicated above, the increase of the desire for comfort is
ultimately linked to the desire for psychological love. Also, things we cannot gain easily have much
worth.

With a certain generation, if there is a huge limitation on a physical relationship between a man
and a woman due to conservative traditional values, they will then place a more important
meaning on the physical relationship than on the psychological. A physical relationship that is
natural in their children's generation was not easily tolerated in their generation. Physical
relationships between a man and a woman in today's society has a completely different character.
It becomes more difficult to obtain love through a psychological connection today, making it more
valued.

Care - decrease of individual responsibility: Care requires more practical and realistic actions than
comfort and love, which means care should be accompanied by decreased responsibilities. But as
society becomes more and more individualized, individuals need to take more responsibilities. This
is because responsibilities that have been shared by members of the large family model are taken
on by one individual, especially the head of the household in a nuclear or single family model.
Desire for lessening these individuals' responsibilities will increase as time goes by, and people will
make connections to diminish such responsibilities.

Then where can we obtain these values? These values cannot be gained through the changed
family model. We can foresee that convenience and expansion of connections through the
development of information technology will amplify the need to acquire these values. The
development of IT enables us to overcome the limitation of time and space in order to
accommodate the changes in family values. It can also provide various driving forces for change,
whether it to accommodate those new values or foster current ones. In other words, it is important
to realize that the growth of IT has a power to negatively or positively accelerate the process of
change.

4. Conclusion

Regarding the changes in family structure, it is apparent that the significance of an individual in
society is being slowly weakened through the re-division of the secondary nuclear family. Families
in traditional society functioned as a major ethical domain that could control family values, norms
and any changes based on its strong blood ties. But while the significance of an individual in a

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family is decreasing, he or she is also creating and expanding his or her own "family" through
various relationships.

Various types of families are being recognized along with the conceptual shift from "family-
centered individual" to "individual-centered family." With this shift, more non-blood related
relationships can be linked to "families." Through the changes of family structures, it should be
remembered that changes in family values cause more individuals to look for psychological
relationships such as comfort, love and care. Also, cyberlation has replaced the authentic function
of traditional family relationships. We can understand that this trend can be a reaction to broken
families in the current age, stemming from the natural mutual responsibility and dependency
shared between family members.

There is an increased desire for psychological relationships through family, and methods for
intimate exchanges appear to be different. Therefore, if we were to rely on the concept of mutual
understanding and trust between family members, we can forecast that the function of future
families will change into the building of selective relationships, maintaining a balance between
sustainable family values and autonomy.