Lynne M. Webb, Professor in Communication Arts, is lead author of the chapter “Families and Technologically Assisted Communication” in The Sage Handbook of Family Communication. Professor Webb’s essay reviews research about how families use cell phones, computers, and social media; it includes such topics as parental strategies for monitoring children’s Internet usage, cyber threats to marriage, and searching family genealogies on the web.
The Handbook serves as a reference work for scholars and practitioners. According to Sage Publishing, the Handbook “provides a comprehensive examination of family communication theory and research. Chapters by leading scholars in family communication expand the definition of family, address recent shifts in culture, and cover important new topics, including families in crisis, families and governmental policies, social media, and extended families. The combination of groundbreaking theories, research methods, and reviews of foundational and emerging research in family communication make this an invaluable resource that explores the critical topics and issues facing family communication researchers today.”
The Handbook is edited by two well-respected family communication scholars, Lynn H. Turner of Marquette University in Milwaukee and Richard L. West of Emerson College in Boston. The Handbook contains 26 chapters across 504 pages and is available from amazon.com.
Professor Webb (PhD, University of Oregon) conducts research on computer-mediated communication in personal relationships. She joined the FIU faculty in August 2013 after serving on the University of Arkansas faculty where she was named a J. William Fulbright Master Researcher. The courses she teaches at FIU include Interpersonal Communication, Conflict Management, and Communication in Social Media.
