Phd-afhandling trykklar pdf

was interviewed, while – in the second interview – both parents (if a couple) were
interviewed.
The analysis has followed an abductive research strategy: The analytical work
simultaneously draws on empirical findings and theoretical observations to develop
valid analytical observations about families’ use of ICT. Theoretically, the analysis
draws on literature from a wide number of research fields (including sociological
studies of working life, family life and everyday life). Each of these illuminates
different aspects of modern everyday and family life with relevance to the under-
standing of the interviewed families’ use of ICT. The thesis also contributes to
develop the theoretical understanding of the relation between ICT and everyday life
within the research fields comprised in this study.
A description of the parents’ experience of the temporality of their everyday life (with
focus on time pressure and stress) opens the analyses. An analytical distinction
between busyness and stress is introduced. Busyness is the time experience related
to an everyday life with many activities. Compared to stress, busyness is not
necessarily a negative experience, while stress is characterised by a feeling of not
being able to handle or meet all the duties or expectations a person is confronted
with on a daily basis. However, the analyses show, that a busy everyday life can be
described as an unstable situation that easily can turn into time pressure and stress.
Living a busy life therefore involves different “time strategies” in order to handle this
“unstableness”, and some of these strategies include the use of ICT. An example is
parents using their mobile phone for work-related phone calls while on the move (e.g.
driving) in order to “utilise” this kind of small pockets of “unused” time.
With regard to the daily coordination and planning of family life, the interviewed
families primarily used the wired telephone and the mobile phone. The daily
coordination and planning includes two different practices. One is related to the
efforts of filling in the “gaps” in the day schedule of the family and its members (i.e.
things that has not yet been planned in detail), while the other is related to the re-
coordination of previous agreements (e.g. on who is going to do the shopping). How
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