Smartphone use: frequency and barriers

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Results

This section presents the results of the study as well as the analyses of the interview responses and Facebook observation. Firstly, the general condition of the respondents’ smartphones use is presented, then followed by the answers to each of the research question.

4.1 Smartphone use: frequency and barriers

The data revealed that migrant helpers strived for family intimacy during their migration. All the participants regularly communicated with their families, especially children, husbands and parents, which indicated a strong bond between them and their close-ties while working as domestic helpers overseas. The in-depths interviews shed light on the dependency upon smartphones to facilitate the preservation of these familial ties. For all Indonesian helpers who took part in this study, smartphone was almost exclusively the sole mode of constant

communication as they generally did not have access to personal computers.

Their smartphone-mediated interaction with their children was exceptionally intensive with calls, messages, pictures and Facebook activities exchanged throughout the days of the week.

Although generally impromptu and unscheduled, communication link via smartphones was also observed between the respondents and their husbands. The dependency on mobile internet device for meaningful family communication is a testament to centrality of smartphones in the

migrants’ family relationships, especially in parenting at a distance.

There was a general tendency to prioritize mother-children interaction over spousal

communication. While most respondents reported calling or texting their children every day, 19 of them stated that although it was important, calling their husbands was not a priority;

Therefore, the average of the frequency of spousal communication via smartphone was merely twice a month with the main purpose being to inform their husbands about the remittances. The reasons for the scarcity in the frequency of the spousal communication will be further discussed

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in the subsequent segment. The Intergenerational communication between the respondents and their parents was significant with the frequency of calls ranging from once to twice a week. The roles of smartphones, however, was limited by the inadequate digital knowledge of the

respondents’ parents. Among 20 participants, only 2 reported having parents who were actively engaging with them personally using smartphones. In general, the daughter-parent

communication was either mediated by conventional voice call using prepaid calling card or via smartphones with assistance from other family members who live nearby, such as their children or siblings.

By comparing the family communication before and after the adoption of smartphone, the importance of mobile internet became even more evident. Prior to smartphones, the

communication between the respondents and their family had been severely limited by the cost of calling using prepaid card or the access to the communication device itself. One of the respondents, Ida, 30, from East Java, left home to work in Taiwan when her son was only seven months old. She recalled the psychological hardship of the separation that she described as a near traumatic experience. For the first two months in Taiwan, migrant workers like Ida have not yet obtained the alien residence card (ARC) required to subscribe to a mobile internet plan.

Therefore, to cope with the intense longing to experience family intimacy, they must use prepaid card or payphone that could cost them up to NTD700 per month for one or two brief calls per week. For those who used prepaid card, the communication was exclusively one-way as it is extremely expensive to make long distance calls from Indonesia. Whereas for helpers who opted to use payphone, it was often impossible for them to find the time to leave home and use the public phone since their primary responsibility is caring for elderly whose mobility, in most cases, depends entirely on the helpers’ physical assistance.

4.1.1. The impact of reduced barriers on transnational parenting

The cut-throat competition in the smartphone market has driven the cost down and 16

respondents reported buying smartphone as the easiest investment they had made. Several small Indonesian-run businesses in Taipei even offer installment purchase systems to accommodate the demand for smartphones among Indonesian helpers who have not worked long enough to be able to purchase one outright at full retail price. Additionally, Taiwan’s telecommunication

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companies such as Far EasTone Telecommunications and Taiwan Mobile have launched data packages designed and marketed specifically to the communities of migrant helpers from

Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam. The participants reported spending on average NTD500 for a 30-day unlimited mobile internet data plan. All of the respondents adopted a smartphone after they started working abroad which means they acquired digital skills to manipulate smartphone features in the host countries. They resorted to different coping strategies to overcome the lack of experience and knowledge in maximizing the benefit of smartphone use.

For example, Nur, 40, bought her first smartphone as soon as she arrived in Taiwan following the suggestion of her relative who had been working in the country. She later learned how to use it by asking other Indonesian helpers she meets in the park and market during her daily morning walk with her employer.

Following the adoption of smartphones, the frequency of mother-children communication increased dramatically. All the respondents stated that talking to their children was one of the highlights of their daily activities. They usually called their children whenever they had free time to ensure the physical well-being of the children such as making sure they have had healthy meals, cleaned their rooms and completed their schoolwork. They were also eager to listen to their children’s stories and problems that often revolved around the children’s interpersonal relationships such as their relationships with classmates, teachers and family members.

As smartphone-mediated contact was virtually free of charge, the respondents were able to stay intimately connected with their children during the critical developmental phases, a situation from which they derived satisfaction and sense of spiritual accomplishment. Moreover, for the respondents like Winnie and Ayu whose young children were still learning to read the Quran, smartphones allowed them to be exceptionally involved in their children’s spiritual development by calling them regularly to coach them the Quran recitation and prayers.

4.1.2. Employment condition and smartphone use

Although it was clear that migrant helpers have benefited from the use of smartphones, there was variability in the patterns of their use. The experience of smartphone use among the respondents varied depending on their employers. In the absence of uniformity in the laws regulating

migrant’s freedom to the access to personal communication devices, the employers’ stand on the

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helpers’ smartphone use can fall under either of the three categories: total prohibition, unconditional permission or conditional permission.

Total prohibition The last category was occupied by three of the respondents who had

experienced the total prohibition on smartphone use while working for their previous employers.

Winni, Lidia and Tuti had all worked for employers who only authorized them to use the home phone once a month. Their condition resembled that of pre-smartphone era, where their

communication with their families was severely restrained and it often led to the feeling of isolation and depression.

Unconditional permission The barriers to the smartphones use are usually set by the employers’

children therefore those who were granted unrestrained freedom to smartphone use were generally the helpers who lived alone with their elderly employers, in which case they had the independence and liberty to control their networked communication with families. 4 of the respondents belonged to this group.

Conditional permission The majority of the respondents fell under the second category, conditional permission. They were permitted to use personal communication devices, but the time and manner of their communication processes were profoundly guided by their employers or employers’ families. For example, Ayu, 30, came to Taiwan in 2014. She had a three-year-old daughter who lived with her aunt in West Java. Although she was not banned from using her smartphone, she was only permitted to use it when her employer is sleeping. Similarly, Nana, 40, from Riau, had been married for 21 years and has three sons: 17, 14 and 11 years old. She was requested by her employer’s daughter not to speak on the phone whenever there were guests around. She was, however, allowed to send messages. Another young mother from Central Java, Winnie, is 35 years old and had been working in Taiwan for five years. She enjoyed talking to both of her sons who were in the middle school throughout the day. She explained that while her employer never minded her using smartphone to connect with her family, her employer’s

daughter specifically asked her not to use earpiece such as headsets for fear that she would not hear her employer’s urgent calls.

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Compared to other migration destinations, Taiwan generally offers much more favorable working conditions in terms of the domestic workers’ access to smartphones. In Singapore, for example, employers tend to strictly control the domestic workers’ use of communication devices for fear of distracting the workers from their responsibilities which consequently results in various communication strategies among the workers to resist the employers’ control (Lin, &

Sun, 2010). Taiwan is also a highly desired host country among Indonesian migrant helpers due to the fact that the salary is relatively higher compared to neighboring countries such as Malaysia and Singapore. This creates an overall conducive environment that fosters the robust practice of transnational mothering supported by sufficient financial resources. Other than that, the nearly unrestricted freedom to smartphone for family communication among migrant domestic helpers in Taiwan can potentially account for the complex but conspicuous changes in the family power dynamics, particularly gender roles, resulted from the higher degree of influence over the family online interaction. In other words, due to the perpetual connectivity via smartphones, migrant domestic workers are able to constantly and unreservedly exercise control over the household.

The following segment elucidates each research question individually. Under the first research question, we will see the logistical and technical aspect of choices: what smartphone features do migrant helpers use and under what circumstances do they use them? The second research question aims at emphasizing the working mechanism behind the choices that produce effects:

how do the uses of different portals influence parenting and spousal communication. Finally, the last inquiry dissects the power play within migrant helpers’ families and how it alters the

communicative practices between the family members.

4.2. The use of smartphone activities among Indonesian domestic helpers to