The State of Family Research and Social Media

Abstract Social media has changed the ways we create and consume information, as well as the ways we interact with others. In the current review, findings from the existing literature on family and social media are considered, hypotheses about the ways social media is influencing families now and will do so in the future are proposed, and suggestions for future research to move the field forward are posited. More specifically, the existing literature on family relationships and technology use, as well as the theoretical perspectives that have been used, are overviewed. This review includes literature that emerged from searches using Academic Search Premier, a multidisciplinary database, and PsycINFO, a database focused on behavioral and social science research. Life course theory and a network approach are presented as two complementary perspectives that begin to provide a lens for understanding the complexity of technology use in family systems.