The phenomenon of platformization has emerged strongly, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, affecting our daily lives in various facets, such as communication, interaction, education, and commerce, among others. Various scholars have characterized this scenario as a “platform society” (van Dijck et al., 2018) or “platform capitalism” (Srnicek, 2018). Regardless of the increasing interest in understanding the impact of digital platforms in different contexts, there are fewer studies that focus on how digital platforms have penetrated family practices. Consequently, there is a major amount of research on how young individuals use digital platforms, but relatively slight studies about family relationships and even less with an intergenerational perspective that involves the elderly.

The research project “PlatFAMs: Platforming Families – tracing digital transformations in everyday life across generations” aims to explore the integration of digital platforms into the daily routines and dynamics of contemporary families across five European countries (Norway, Estonia, the United Kingdom, Romania and Spain). Through an intergenerational approach, we select 20 families from each country (n= 100) to interview the three main generations (children, parents and grandparents). 

The project focuses on three main topics: digital navigation -studying how different members of the family interact with various platforms to discern inter-generational differences and similarities-; digital negotiation -exploring relational dynamics within varied family structures- and digital future-making -investigating how participants develop imaginations of digital futures, within family and society level-. 

Through the first stage of the project, we have conducted a scoping review (Erstad, Hegna, Livingstone, Negru-Subticica & Stoilova, in press) that identifies that the field of digital platforms and family life is specially focused on individual uses of social media but less explain the reconfiguration of relationships, agency and autonomy within families. These few studies focus on two different emerging themes related with the platformization of intimacy, belonging and care, on the one hand, and interdependency, vulnerability and power struggles, on the other hand. 

The first corpus of literature suggests that digital technology might enable practices of care in contexts such as geographically dispersed families and it might complement rather than substitute face-to-face communication (Danielsbacka et al., 2022; Williams, 2011). It might even contribute to bridging the gap between older parents to understand the modern world (Thomas, 2020). Digital family practices such as negotiating and buying technology, sharing photos from joint family events or using Whatsapp as a transconnective space might also create a sense of family belonging (Palviainen & Kędra, 2020). At the same time, the literature points at concerns related with gender inequalities, social barriers experienced by the elderly and the overburden of the constant online presence (Neves et al., 2019). 

The second one involves a shift in power dynamics within families, which might enhance family communication, learning and enjoying creativity (Levinson & Barron, 2018), but also involve parents' concerns about being absent in their children’s digital lives or about higher usage of smartphones. Another relevant aspect is related with parental surveillance, but the few studies that have been implemented point that children might see intimate surveillance as a practice of care that involves feeling more security and comfort (De Leyn, et al., 2022).

For a deeper understanding of the phenomenon, the project is configured in three stages. The first stage consists on developing a scoping review to map the existing literature related with family and online platforms and identify the main key concepts, gaps and evidence related to the topic. The second one is a qualitative stage, based on individual and group interviews with families (Flick, 2015). This stage also involves a participatory approach (Vaughn & Jacquez, 2020), which includes using interactive and creative methods with families such as diaries or photo ellicitation. With this type of tools, families have the opportunity to report on their everyday practices related to digital platforms. And finally, the third quantitative stage, based on a secondary analysis of EUKids Online data. In this paper, we focus on the preliminary results of the qualitative stage, which is also organized in two sub-phases: (1) individual interviews with three family members of each family (child, adult and elderly) and (2) multi-members family interviews, one or two per each family unit. At the moment, we have conducted 60 individual interviews in each country (20 families x 3 members), which implies 300 interviews in total. For each interview, researchers used a timeline that encouraged the discussion and reflection of participants about temporality in the use of platforms in the past, present and future. The results will be based on the 60 interviews conducted in Spain. The main question guiding the analysis is which are the implications of the use of digital platforms among families, specially related with how people integrate and domesticate platforms in their daily environment? To address this question, we point to five key themes: - Families integration and domestication of digital platforms. - The role of negotiation in the integration of digital platforms into family life. - The evolution of digital platforms used by families over time. - The emergent relational meanings of digital platforms for family life. - Families imagination of their futures.

The preliminary results of the scoping review and the individual interviews points at how digital platforms might shape family life, specially in terms of intimacy, belonging and power-control relationships. In this paper, we will present the results related with the opportunities and risks perceived by families that arise from the new ways of intimacy, power shifts, means of communication and surveillance practices. In the context of technological advances, the discussion is related with changes in power dynamics within families, as well as the emergence of new forms of communication and surveillance. Digital media has been noted to be linked to both distinctive practices of intimacy, belonging and care, as well as power struggles associated with digitally mediated forms of interdependence and vulnerability. The issue of intimate surveillance by parents has also been addressed, such as monitoring their children's publications and followers on platforms such as TikTok, which can be perceived by children as a normalized practice of care, generating a sense of safety and comfort. These cases exemplify the interrelationship of media and surveillance practices in the context of family life and the use of digital technologies. Also, it has been highlighted that technology allows for a diversity of perspectives of intimacy, from presence to surveillance, and that visualization (via webcam, live broadcasts, etc.) plays a crucial role in its manifestation. It has been emphasized that some forms of intimacy are more welcomed by children, while others are less accepted, and that surveillance is sometimes met with avoidance strategies, problematizing limits and control.

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