Family Communication in the Era of Algorithm-Driven Social Media: A Qualitative Study of Women Across Age Groups

Background: Social media is a medium of communication that takes place on the internet. Users can hold discussions, exchange information, and produce online content on social networking sites. Blogs, microblogs, wikis, social networking sites, photo-sharing sites and other types of social media that exist on the internet. Objectives: This study investigates the impact of social media on family communication patterns from the perspectives of women belonging to different age groups. It explores both positive and negative aspects of social media usage within families and identifies strategies for improving family communication. Methodology: Data was collected from two groups: young women aged 18-21 and older women aged 45-55 through Interviews. The findings reveal a significant shift in communication dynamics, with social media facilitating long-distance communication but also contributing to reduced interaction within families. Results: Themes like increased isolation, decreased family communication, and the portrayal of false images on social media emerge consistently across both age groups. Strategies such as setting boundaries, limiting phone usage, and spending quality time together emerged as potential solutions. Conclusion: The themes that emerged from the interview conducted on both the women, demonstrated a similar pattern of impact that has been caused due to the usage of social media in everyday life, where on one hand it has led to positive changes such as increased learning and exploration, finding out one's hobbies and working towards its growth, and ease in communication but has also led to decreased family communication, increased isolation, staying occupied on these platforms etc. which signifies the distance that has been created due to the advent of social media into an individual’s life and how it has played a major role in affecting the overall family communication patterns.