Designing for Ambivalence: Mothers, Transitional Objects and Smartphones.

For many women, the first few years of motherhood demand complex negotiations of maternal and work related roles. The versatility of smartphones, functioning for both work and play, can add complexity to the blurring of boundaries in this period: the phone is often used for work while doing childcare, and at other times to keep children quiet or entertained. Transforming from tool into toy, it becomes an object of competition for parental attention, but equally turns the mother into a rival since its use is often shared. My research investigates how design can explore the relationship between mother, child and the smartphone, using proposals to expose the tensions brought by this device in family life.