How the Family Makes Itself: The Platformization of Parenting in Early Childhood

AbstractIn this chapter, we explore the platformization of family life by concentrating both on the specific context of parenting in early childhood and on a core function of many platforms—datafication. Drawing on two case studies of infant feeding apps, including qualitative research interviews with users, the chapter explores how understandings of what it is to be a “good” parent are now defined through datafication and explicit metrics which demonstrably transform maternal and paternal roles as well as impacting on intergenerational discussions, traditional knowledge and understandings of what it means to bring up a baby. We examine these cases by considering the role of datafication in developing self-understandings of the family narrative and changes about the relationship between the family and other “social envelope” institutions like school, care, and welfare. The chapter concludes by summarising how the various activities of family life might be re-mediating how families understand themselves as individuals, social units, and institutions.