Sub plenary: Intimate Relationships, Human Interaction and Family Work in a Digital Age

ABSTRACT

The paper starts by portraying characteristics of some prominent factors in the contemporary life of ordinary people. In that connection the influences of the commercial global market, increasing individualism and the emerging technical development, e.g. as reflected in the new media, are depicted. This is related to current social discourse on the human condition and contributions from social critics on the digital culture and its effect on family contact and interaction, especially on the parent-child intimate relationship. The portrayal of the digital culture is focused on what recent family research, communication studies and clinical experience reveal. Under that perspective we discuss individual life-course development, and jeopardizing life events such as parents’ divorce, disease, death or emigration, young peoples‘ patterns of risk behaviours, deficits and dependency on drugs and digital media. Furthermore, this is related to recent research findings of the correlation between childhood trauma, crises or serious neglect and mental or physical health problems later in life. It is argued that marginalized, less educated groups of parents, immigrants, unemployed and other minorities are particularly unprotected and vulnerable. Finally, it is claimed that professionals, as family workers, play an essential part in preventing harm to children in current perilous upbringing conditions. Their contribution is thus crucial for prophylactic achievements in multidisciplinary teamwork, through family life education and various interventional programmes with young couples, families and children. They have a gatekeeping role in social, health and school settings, also mediating knowledge to leaders and policy makers.