Araştırma Makalesi

Digital Family Practices and Migration: Experiences of Turkish Migrants in the United Kingdom

Sayı: 24 18 Ocak 2026
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Digital Family Practices and Migration: Experiences of Turkish Migrants in the United Kingdom

Abstract

Transnational migration reshapes how families sustain care, intimacy, and belonging across borders, with digital media increasingly central to these ties. This study examines how Turkish migrants in the United Kingdom maintain familyhood through digital communication. Based on semi-structured interviews with 29 participants, the findings show that platforms such as WhatsApp and FaceTime function as infrastructures of everyday co-presence, enabling routine coordination and reassurance while highlighting the irreplaceability of physical proximity. Participants described offering emotional counselling, financial transfers, and practical assistance across borders, while younger generations often acted as digital mediators bridging literacy and etiquette gaps. Online rituals, such as Bayram (Eid) greetings or birthday celebrations, reinforced belonging yet intensified moral surveillance and visibility. The findings demonstrate that everyday digital interactions consolidate transnational solidarity while deepening awareness of absence. The study contributes to scholarship on digital migration and transnational familyhood by conceptualizing digital media as infrastructures of intimacy and care. These insights also hold practical implications for policies and programmes that promote intergenerational digital literacy and emotional well-being in migrant families.

Keywords

Etik Beyan

Çankırı Karatekin Üniversitesi, 22.05.2025 tarihli 54 numaralı toplantı kararı ile etik kurul onayı alınmıştır.

Kaynakça

  1. Acedera, K. A., & Yeoh, B. S. (2019). ‘Making time’: Long-distance marriages and the temporalities of the transnational family. Current Sociology, 67(2), 250–272. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011392118792927
  2. Albert, I., & Ferring, D. (2018). Intergenerational solidarity in adulthood: The role of family norms in intergenerational support and ambivalence. Društvena istraživanja: časopis za opća društvena pitanja, 27(1), 5–25.
  3. Alinejad, D. (2019). Careful co-presence: The transnational mediation of emotional intimacy. Social Media + Society, 5(2), 2056305119854222. https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305119854222
  4. Aslantaş, M. (2021). Sosyal Medya Kullanımının Düğün Fotoğrafçılığına Etkisi. Erzurum Teknik Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi, (13), 1-20. https://doi.org/10.29157/etusbed.895652
  5. Baldassar, L. (2008). Missing kin and longing to be together: Emotions and the construction of co-presence in transnational relationships. Journal of Intercultural Studies, 29(3), 247–266. https://doi.org/10.1080/07256860802169196
  6. Baldassar, L. (2016a). Mobilities and communication technologies: Transforming care in family life. In M. Kilkey & E. Palenga-Möllenbeck (Eds.), Family life in an age of migration and mobility: Global perspectives through the life course, 19–42. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-52099-9_2
  7. Baldassar, L. (2016b). De‐demonizing distance in mobile family lives: co‐presence, care circulation and polymedia as vibrant matter. Global Networks, 16(2), 145-163. https://doi.org/10.1111/glob.12109
  8. Baldassar, L., & Merla, L. (Eds.). (2014). Transnational families, migration and circulation of care: Understanding mobility and absence in family life. Routledge.

Ayrıntılar

Birincil Dil

İngilizce

Konular

Ekran ve Medya Kültürü , Aile ve İlişkiler Sosyolojisi , Uluslararası Göç

Bölüm

Araştırma Makalesi

Yayımlanma Tarihi

18 Ocak 2026

Gönderilme Tarihi

6 Ekim 2025

Kabul Tarihi

22 Aralık 2025

Yayımlandığı Sayı

Yıl 2026 Sayı: 24

Kaynak Göster

APA
Demirdiş, S. (2026). Digital Family Practices and Migration: Experiences of Turkish Migrants in the United Kingdom. Erzurum Teknik Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi, 24, 82-95. https://doi.org/10.29157/etusbed.1798272

Creative Commons License

ETÜSBED, Creative Commons Atıf-GayriTicari 4.0 Uluslararası Lisansı ile lisanslanmıştır.


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