”Ihminen ei koe tarvitsevansa perhettä tai toista ihmistä.”: Teknologia, perhe ja sukupolvisuhteet opiskelijoiden tulevaisuusvisioissa

The article deals with the future visions of Finnish and Estonian university students concerning family and intergenerational relationships, which are becoming increasingly influenced by technology. University students are the decision-makers and experts of the future. The article investigates how university students envision the relationship between family life and technology in the near future, particularly the genuineness of family interaction. Are they worried, for example, about technological determinism, according to which technology is about to cause changes in families and other social relations? The written data was gathered using an empathy-based story method during 2015–18 in six different classrooms and lessons. A total of 61 Estonians and 79 Finns wrote their stories. The data was analyzed using theory-based content analysis. Technology which appeared spontaneously in the data included media technology, artificial intelligence, digitalization and robotization, for example. The findings showed that technology is examined first in the internal interaction of families, and second as a part of the household and services. Age was specified more than gender. Family life seemed to be inert and conventional, changing slowly in character. Technology, for its part, was seen as changing rapidly and causing confusion. The concern caused by technological development crystallized in particular in the changes in the psycho-social interaction of families, but not in the working of households or services. A genuine and true family life was sought after. Finns and Estonians largely shared the same visions of technology, but there were differences in family concepts.

Keywords: family, future visions, technology