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Military Parenting in the Digital Age: Existing Practices, New Possibilities

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Parenting and Children's Resilience in Military Families

Part of the book series: Risk and Resilience in Military and Veteran Families ((RRMV))

Abstract

In this digital age, the use of technology for all aspects of daily life is prevalent among parents and their children. The availability of mobile devices, ubiquitous Internet access, and social networking has the potential for enhancing parenting practices in general. Military parents share many of the challenges facing their civilian counterparts but also live within the constraints of being part of the US military system. The Department of Defense is increasingly recognizing that family readiness is critical to providing service members with a healthy support system as they focus on their mission at hand. The use of the Internet, mobile technology, and social networking by military families can improve their daily living in such a way that contributes to family readiness. On the other hand, the ease of sharing information via the Internet and mobile phones can easily compromise operations security and jeopardize the safety of their family member and others throughout the deployment cycle. The purpose of this chapter is to present how military parents can use technology to effectively parent as they face the myriad of challenges specific to separations, reintegration, and relocations. Research is presented on the use of technology by parents in general and is extended to discuss how it might help or hinder military parenting in four foundational aspects of parenting: information seeking, communication, social support, and well-being. The chapter concludes by offering ideas about the future of technology, how it might evolve in terms of impacting military family life and potential new directions for research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Center for Telehealth and Technology, 9933 West Hayes Street, BOX 339500 MS 34, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Tacoma, WA, 98433-9500, USA

    Kelly A. Blasko Ph.D.

  2. Private Practitioner, Menard, TX, USA

    Pamela R. Murphy Psy.D.

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Correspondence to Kelly A. Blasko Ph.D. .

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  1. University of Minnesota, Dept of Fam. Soc.Sci. Ins. of Child Dev, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

    Abigail H. Gewirtz

  2. University of Minnesota, Inst.Transl.Res. in Child. Ment. Health, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

    Adriana M. Youssef

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Blasko, K.A., Murphy, P.R. (2016). Military Parenting in the Digital Age: Existing Practices, New Possibilities. In: Gewirtz, A., Youssef, A. (eds) Parenting and Children's Resilience in Military Families. Risk and Resilience in Military and Veteran Families. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-12556-5_15

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