From parent-centered to platform-centered: Rethinking intergenerational communication in the age of deep mediatization

The landscape of intergenerational communication is undergoing a profound transformation as digital infrastructures increasingly mediate domestic authority. Traditional frameworks – most notably Family Communication Patterns Theory (FCPT) – remain rooted in interpersonal models of value transmission, leaving them conceptually challenged in the era of deep mediatization. Utilizing an integrative conceptual synthesis, this article proposes a platform-centered model to extend existing family communication theories beyond their human-centric focus. We argue that digital platforms have emerged as autonomous socio-technical actors that structure the domestic sphere through three primary mechanisms: the transfer of agency to digital infrastructures, the reconfiguration of family temporalities via algorithmic pacing, and the datafication of intimacy under commercial governance. By bridging media ecology and family communication research, this study illustrates how platform affordances recalibrate traditional parental gatekeeping, shifting the locus of control toward the digital systems that now host familial discourse. Ultimately, this work offers a critical framework for navigating the platformization of relationality and the evolving boundaries of human agency in the modern home.