Knowledge and communication of Spanish families with Smartphones y Tablets

Mobile devices have broken into the 21st century family system, particularly Smartphones and Tablets, due to their versatility, impacting all family dynamics, making it a challenge to educate all family members and to integrate them responsibly. The purpose of this research is to describe the knowledge that Spanish families have in relation to Smartphones and Tablets, as well as to address the influence of these devices on intra-family communication. Due to this, a non-experimental cross-sectional quantitative research is carried out, in which 1082 subjects belonging to the 17 autonomous communities and the 2 autonomous cities that make up the national territory, have participated by completing an ad hoc designed questionnaire, called "Smartphones and Tablets within the family", sent through two channels and, on two different occasions. The structure of this tool is made up of 7 dimensions with a total of 91 items, analysing two of the questionnaire scales in this article. The main results show that Spanish families have a high knowledge of Smartphones and Tablets, being men and younger family members who present most of knowledge. Likewise, families positively value the communication possibilities offered by Smartphones. However, they consider that both Tablets and Smartphones have a negative impact on the care of minors in the home. It has also been concluded that it is necessary to promote, from the political, educational and family environment, quality intrafamily communication times and spaces, while educating in the responsible use of mobile devices for communication purposes, being older family members, the guarantors of a good example for minors.