skip to main content
research-article

Changing Roles and Contexts: Symbolic Interactionism in the Sharing of Food and Eating Practices between Remote, Intergenerational Family Members

Published:29 May 2020Publication History
Skip Abstract Section

Abstract

Cooking and eating together is a prominent social experience amongst families. Older adults and their adult children who live apart often communicate about these experiences to stay aware of each other's health and wellbeing. In this paper, we examine current practices surrounding the communication of eating habits and meal preparation between older adults and their adult children living apart. We interviewed 18 older parents and nine adult children to understand their experiences. While most participants found the sharing of eating experiences to be rewarding and enlightening of family health behaviors, family roles and contexts could create tensions around this type of conversation. Applying the lens of symbolic interactionism theory, we examine how changing roles and contexts influence the conversation of eating and meal preparation and how participants manage tensions. We discuss future design opportunities to support family collaboration around food and eating, accounting for the transition of roles and contexts.

References

  1. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Department of Agriculture. 2015. 2015 -- 2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. 2015 -- 2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (8th edition): 18. https://doi.org/10.1097/NT.0b013e31826c50afGoogle ScholarGoogle Scholar
  2. Ingrid Arreola, Zan Morris, Matthew Francisco, Kay Connelly, Kelly Caine, and Ginger White. 2014. From checking on to checking in: Designing for low socio-economic status older adults. Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings: 1933--1936. https://doi.org/10.1145/2556288.2557084Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  3. Elizabeth Bales, Kevin A. Li, and William Griwsold. 2011. CoupleVIBE?: Mobile implicit communication to improve awareness for (long-distance) couples. Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, CSCW, May 2014: 65--74. https://doi.org/10.1145/1958824.1958835Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  4. Daniel T. van Bel, K. C. H. J. Smolders, Wijnand A. IJsselsteijn, and Yvonne de Kort. 2009. Social connectedness: concept and measurement. Intelligent Environments 2, July 2015: 67--74. https://doi.org/10.3233/978--1--60750-034--6--67Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  5. Jomara Binda, Chie Yuan, Natalie Cope, and John M Carroll. 2018. Supporting Effective Sharing of Health Information among Intergenerational Family Members. In Proceedings of the 12th EAI International Conference on Pervasive Computing Technologies for Healthcare, 148--157. https://doi.org/10.1145/3240925.3240936Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  6. Bernheim A J Brush, Kori M. Inkpen, and Tee Kimberly. 2008. SPARCS: exploring sharing suggestions to enhance family connectedness. CSCW '08: Proceedings of the 2008 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work: 629--638.Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  7. Xiang Cao, Abigail Sellen, A.J. Bernheim Brush, David Kirk, Darren Edge, and Xianghua Ding. 2010. Understanding family communication across time zones. In Proceedings of the 2010 ACM conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, 155--158. https://doi.org/10.1145/1718918.1718947Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  8. Min Zhen Chai, Alessandro Soro, Paul Roe, and Margot Brereton. 2017. Cooking together at a distance: Sustain connectedness for long distance families. In Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2437--2444. https://doi.org/10.1145/3027063.3053183Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  9. Wei Chi Chien and Marc Hassenzahl. 2017. Technology-Mediated Relationship Maintenance in Romantic Long-Distance Relationships: An Autoethnographical Research through Design. Human-Computer Interaction 00, 00: 1--48. https://doi.org/10.1080/07370024.2017.1401927Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  10. Peter Knosgaard Christensen, Christoffer Oland Skovgaard, and Marianne Graves Petersen. 2019. Together together: Combining shared and separate activities in designing technology for family life. Proceedings of the 18th ACM International Conference on Interaction Design and Children, IDC 2019: 374--385. https://doi.org/10.1145/3311927.3323141Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  11. Felicia Cordeiro, Elizabeth Bales, Erin Cherry, and James Fogarty. 2015. Rethinking the Mobile Food Journal. Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2015): 3207--3216. https://doi.org/10.1145/2702123.2702154Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  12. Raymundo Cornejo, Mónica Ten Tori, and Jesús Favela. 2013. Enriching in-person encounters through social media: A study on family connectedness for the elderly. International Journal of Human Computer Studies 71, 9: 889--899. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2013.04.001Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  13. Benjamin Cornwell, Edward O Laumann, L Philip Schumm, Benjamin Cornwell, Edward O Laumann, and L Philip Schumm. 2017. A National Profile The Social Connectedness of Older Adults?: 73, 2: 185--203.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  14. Treena Delormier, Katherine L. Frohlich, and Louise Potvin. 2009. Food and eating as social practice - Understanding eating patterns as social phenomena and implications for public health. Sociology of Health and Illness 31, 2: 215--228. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467--9566.2008.01128.xGoogle ScholarGoogle ScholarCross RefCross Ref
  15. Anind K. Dey and Ed de Guzman. 2006. From awareness to connectedness. Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human Factors in computing systems - CHI '06, January 2006: 899. https://doi.org/10.1145/1124772.1124905Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  16. Alice H. Eagly and Wendy Wood. 2012. Social role theory. Handbook of Theories of Social Psychology, March: 458--476. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781446249222.n49Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  17. Chris Elsden, Abigail C. Durrant, David Chatting, and David S. Kirk. 2017. Designing Documentary Informatics. 649--661. https://doi.org/10.1145/3064663.3064714Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  18. Chris Elsden, David S. Kirk, and Abigail C. Durrant. 2016. A Quantified Past: Toward Design for Remembering With Personal Informatics. Human-Computer Interaction 31, 6: 518--557. https://doi.org/10.1080/07370024.2015.1093422Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  19. Kiah L. Evans, Jeannine Millsteed, Janet E. Richmond, Marita Falkmer, Torbjorn Falkmer, and Sonya J. Girdler. 2016. Working sandwich generation women utilize strategies within and between roles to achieve role balance. PLoS ONE 11, 6: 10--12. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0157469Google ScholarGoogle ScholarCross RefCross Ref
  20. Hasan Shahid Ferdous, Bernd Ploderer, Hilary Davis, Frank Vetere, and Kenton O'Hara. 2016. Commensality and the social use of technology during family mealtime. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction 23, 6. https://doi.org/10.1145/2994146Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  21. William W. Gaver, Jacob Beaver, and Steve Benford. 2003. Ambiguity as a resource for design. Proceedings of the conference on Human factors in computing systems - CHI '03, 5: 233. https://doi.org/10.1145/642651.642653Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  22. Catherine Grevet, Anthony Tang, and Elizabeth Mynatt. 2012. Eating alone, together: New forms of commensality. GROUP'12 - Proceedings of the ACM 2012 International Conference on Support Group Work: 103--106. https://doi.org/10.1145/2389176.2389192Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  23. Carla F. Griggio, Midas Nouwens, Joanna McGrenere, and Wendy E. Mackay. 2019. Augmenting couples' communication with lifelines: Shared timelines of mixed contextual information. Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings: 1--13. https://doi.org/10.1145/3290605.3300853Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  24. Andrea Grimes and Richard Harper. 2008. Celebratory Technology?: New Directions for Food Research in HCI. Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2008): 467--476. https://doi.org/10.1145/1357054.1357130Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  25. Andrea Grimes and Desney Tan. 2009. Toward technologies that support family reflections on health. GROUP'09: 311--320.Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  26. Marc Hassenzahl, Stephanie Heidecker, Kai Eckoldt, Sarah Diefenbach, and Uwe Hillmann. 2012. All you need is love: Current strategies of mediating intimate relationships through technology. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction 19, 4. https://doi.org/10.1145/2395131.2395137Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  27. Karen Holtzblatt, Jessamyn Burns Wendell, and Shelley Wood. 2004. Rapid contextual design: a how-to guide to key techniques for user-centered design. Elsevier.Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  28. Hsiu-Fang Hsieh and Sarah E. Shannon. 2005. Three Approaches to Qualitative Content Analysis. Qualitative Health Research 15, 9: 1277--1288. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732305276687Google ScholarGoogle ScholarCross RefCross Ref
  29. Maia L. Jacobs, James Clawson, and Elizabeth D. Mynatt. 2017. Articulating a Patient-Centered Design Space for Cancer Journeys. EAI Endorsed Transactions on Pervasive Health and Technology 3, 9: 152394. https://doi.org/10.4108/eai.21--3--2017.152394Google ScholarGoogle ScholarCross RefCross Ref
  30. Jasmine Jones and Mark S. Ackerman. 2018. Co-constructing family memory: Understanding the intergenerational practices of passing on family stories. Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings 2018-April: 1--13. https://doi.org/10.1145/3173574.3173998Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  31. Tejinder K. Judge, Carman Neustaedter, Steve Harrison, and Andrew Blose. 2011. Family Portals: Connecting families through a multifamily media space. Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings: 1205--1214. https://doi.org/10.1145/1978942.1979122Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  32. Konstantinos Kazakos, Elizabeth Bales, Carmen Neustaedter, Svetlana Yarosh, Joseph Jofish Kaye, and David Kirk. 2013. Exploring the Diversity of Families?: Designing Technologies for the Contemporary Family Life. Chi'13: 3255--3258. https://doi.org/10.1145/2468356.2479660Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  33. David M Klein and James M White. 1996. The Symbolic Interaction Framework. In Family theories: An introduction. Sage Publications Thousand Oaks, CA, 87--118.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  34. Ralph LaRossa and Donald C Reitzes. 2009. Symbolic interactionism and family studies. In Sourcebook of family theories and methods. Springer, 135--166.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  35. Yifang Li, Subina Saini, Kelly Caine, and Kay Connelly. 2018. Checking-in with my friends: Results from an in-situ deployment of peer-to-peer aging in place technologies. In Aging, Technology and Health. 147--178.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  36. Siân E Lindley, Richard Harper, and Abigail Sellen. 2009. Desiring to be in Touch in a Changing Communications Landscape?: Attitudes of Older Adults. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2009), 1693--1702. https://doi.org/10.1145/1518701.1518962Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  37. Danielle Lottridge, Nicolas Masson, and Wendy Mackay. 2009. Sharing empty moments: Design for remote couples. In In Proceedings of the 2009 SIGCHI Conferences on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2329--2338. https://doi.org/10.1145/1518701.1519058Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  38. Kai Lukoff, Taoxi Li, Yuan Zhuang, and Brian Y. Lim. 2018. TableChat?: Mobile Food Journaling to Facilitate Family Support for Healthy Eating. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction 2, CSCW: 114. https://doi.org/10.1145/3274383Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  39. Alex McIntosh and Mary Zey. 1989. Women as gatekeepers of food consumption: A sociological critique. Food and Foodways 3, 4: 317--332.Google ScholarGoogle ScholarCross RefCross Ref
  40. Elizabeth D. Mynatt, Jim Rowan, Sarah Craighill, and Annie Jacobs. 2001. Digital family portraits. Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems - CHI '01: 333--340. https://doi.org/10.1145/365024.365126Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  41. Carman Neustaedter and Saul Greenberg. 2012. Intimacy in long-distance relationships over video chat. Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings: 753--762. https://doi.org/10.1145/2207676.2207785Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  42. Jeni Paay, Jesper Kjeldskov, and Mikael B. Skov. 2015. Connecting in the kitchen: An empirical study of physical interactions while cooking together at home. CSCW 2015 - Proceedings of the 2015 ACM International Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing: 276--287. https://doi.org/10.1145/2675133.2675194Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  43. Simone Pettigrew and Michele Roberts. 2008. Addressing loneliness in later life. Aging and Mental Health 12, 3: 302--309. https://doi.org/10.1080/13607860802121084Google ScholarGoogle ScholarCross RefCross Ref
  44. Laura R Pina, Sang-Wha Sien, Teresa Ward, Jason C Yip, Sean A Munson, James Fogarty, and Julie A Kientz. 2017. From Personal Informatics to Family Informatics: Understanding Family Practices around Health Monitoring. https://doi.org/10.1145/2998181.2998362Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  45. Catherine Plaisant, Aaron Clamage, Hilary Browne Hutchinson, Benjamin B. Bederson, and Allison Druin. 2006. Shared family calendars: Promoting symmetry and accessibility. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction 13, 3: 313--346. https://doi.org/10.1145/1183456.1183458Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  46. Natalia Romero, Panos Markopoulos, Joy Baren, Boris Ruyter, Wijnand IJsselsteijn, and Babak Farshchian. 2007. Connecting the family with awareness systems. Personal and Ubiquitous Computing 11, 4: 299--312. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00779-006-0089-0Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  47. Herman Saksono and Andrea G. Parker. 2017. Reflective Informatics Through Family Storytelling. Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - CHI '17: 5232--5244. https://doi.org/10.1145/3025453.3025651Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  48. Jomara Sandbulte, Jordan Beck, Eun Kyoung Choe, B, and John M. Carroll. 2019. Turning Points: Motivating Intergenerational Families to Engage on Sustainable Health Information Sharing. In iConference, 741--753. https://doi.org/10.1007/978--3-030--15742--5Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  49. Chris Schaefbauer, Danish Kahn, Amy Le, Garrett Sczechowski, and Katie Siek. 2015. Snack Buddy: Supporting Healthy Snacking in Low Socioeconomic Status Families. Proceedings of the 2015 ACM International Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing: 1045--1057. https://doi.org/10.1145/2675133.2675180Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  50. Katherine Schaeffer. 2019. Women do more cooking, grocery shopping than men among U.S. couples. Retrieved from https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/09/24/among-u-s-couples-women-do-more-cooking-and-grocery-shopping-than-men/Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  51. Javier Tibau, Michael Stewart, Steve Harrison, and Deborah Tatar. 2019. FamilySong: Designing to enable music for connection and culture in internationally distributed families. In Proceedings of the 2019 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference, 785--798. https://doi.org/10.1145/3322276.3322279Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  52. Sandra L. Titus. 1976. Family Photographs and Transition to Parenthood. Journal of Marriage and the Family 38, 3: 525. https://doi.org/10.2307/350421Google ScholarGoogle ScholarCross RefCross Ref
  53. Hitomi Tsujita, Koji Tsukada, and Siio Itiro. 2010. InPhase?: Evaluation of a Communication System Focused on "Happy Coincidences" of Daily Behaviors. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2481--2490. https://doi.org/10.1145/1753326.1753701Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  54. United States Census Bureau. 2017. Population 60 years and over in the United States: American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates. Retrieved from http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_12_1YR_S0102&prodType=tableGoogle ScholarGoogle Scholar

Index Terms

  1. Changing Roles and Contexts: Symbolic Interactionism in the Sharing of Food and Eating Practices between Remote, Intergenerational Family Members

      Recommendations

      Comments

      Login options

      Check if you have access through your login credentials or your institution to get full access on this article.

      Sign in

      Full Access

      PDF Format

      View or Download as a PDF file.

      PDF

      eReader

      View online with eReader.

      eReader
      About Cookies On This Site

      We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website.

      Learn more

      Got it!