Availability and Boundary Management

Abstract

As technology is becoming more powerful and widespread, it is used in multiple areas and for diverse purposes making us available to others anytime and anyplace. Boundary management focuses on the organisation of domains in life and their borders (e.g., between work vs. non-work). Working parents of young children are facing particular challenges of orchestrating their life domains. We present the results of an interview study of parents of young children on their boundary management and availability across domains. The paper contributes an identification of life domains; a classification of availability statuses; and details on the status we call ad-hoc availability with a melange of a priori rules and spontaneous behaviours. Ad-hoc availability is not only determined by a general personal preference for connection, but very importantly by a practical information need from the parent towards the person wanting to connect.