by Julius Albert Custodio

Created on: November 07, 2010   Last Updated: November 28, 2010

As technology becomes more and more advanced it can't be helped that familial relationships will also evolve with them. Take this Facebook dialog between a mother and her daughter as an example:

Daughter: "Oh my god! My mom created a Facebook account. My life is officially ruined!"

Mother: "Yes, dear. And I'm here to stay. LOL."

Add to that, the first message received no Facebook "likes" whereas the mother's reply got liked by many of her daughter's friends. Daughter: 0, Mother: 1.

~ Bridging the Generation Gap ~

The thing about technology is that it is a double-edged sword. For a family, it can either bring its members closer together or drive them farther apart. The advent of sophisticated cellular devices, edgier gaming consoles, and online social networks has drawn a clearer line between the existing generation gap. Add to that the fact that there are people from the younger generation who would rather keep new technology to themselves rather than share them with the older generation, thus creating a "wider gap" than ever before.

~ Privacy Issues ~

Then there's the sentiment that with new technology comes lesser privacy as seen from the daughter's reaction when she knew that her mother signed-up on Facebook. There will always be parents who would snoop around their child's private stuff and with technology nowadays, it's even easier for them to do that. There's no one keeping them from accessing new technology and surely they have the right to keep up with the times. Their children just have to live with it.

~ Family Bonding 2.0 ~

However, if families use these technological innovations in the right way, they can actually enhance family bonding. Take for example the family who plays Left 4 Dead together on weekends or hearing from those relatives you usually don't hear from through tweet updates and whatnot. OK, so maybe you don't often see a family who choose to play Left 4 Dead as a weekend bonding activity or you don't want to hear about the smallest life details of an eccentric distant cousin, but clearly, there are so many more options now to bond with each other.

~ Past versus Future ~

Some can argue that it was better off in the past when there were no obtrusive social networking accounts or fandangled Playstation units or redundant electric hybrid cars. Back then, life was simpler. At the end of the day though, the fact remains that the world will evolve, new technologies will be discovered, and familial relationships will be affected by it. But you see, it's not really technology that's the big factor here, it's how the family members decide to use it which will ultimately affect them.

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