ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the limitations, and provides alternative theoretical foundations for the study of digital media and the family, in hope of offering a more accurate and representative view of the complex interaction between the two. It provides recommendations for parents and instructors on how to help children and students negotiate their dialectical tensions without putting themselves, and their family system, in inconvenient or harmful situations. The recommendations focus on developing media literacy through "meta-digital-communication" – or the communication about digital communication. The chapter defines family as 'a self-defined group of intimates who create and maintain themselves through their own interactions and their interactions with others'. It focuses specifically on negotiations of the three tensions such as integration–separation, stability–change and expression–non-expression. It provides a model for understanding digital media and families, which will serve as a grounded guideline for scholars and families alike.
