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Paper short abstract:

This paper explores mobile diary apps reveal gendered differences in the experiences of parents working from home in the UK tech sector. Women shared more personal, emotional reflections, while men offered brief, task-focused responses, highlighting the impact of digital tools on data.

Paper long abstract:

Based on ethnographic research into the work and family lives of parents working from home in the UK tech sector, this paper shares methodological reflections on how post-pandemic hybrid working arrangements call for an adapted methodological toolkit, and the opportunities and barriers that these tools may generate. To understand the intersections, blurred boundaries, and emotional currents that define the experience of working from home, this research employed ethnographic diary studies using a mobile-based app that invited participants to share video, audio, and text based responses to daily prompts over a one-week timeframe. Using digital tools such as a diary study app provides thick insight into the daily rhythms and routines of working parents beyond often beyond what is achievable during a semi-structured interview. However, over the course of collecting this data, what also became clear were divergent gendered approaches. Women used the app as a personal digital diary, sharing personal moments and reflections, often via audio recording, and photos of family and everyday life. Many men did not complete the full set of tasks. The entries they did provide were often short, focused on assessing the efficiency of their days, with little emotional reflection. Ultimately, this paper invites a discussion on how different digital tools may invite perspectives into divergent gendered experiences of the home and work in not only the data generated, but in the use of the tools themselves. Simultaneously, the types of reflections afforded by platforms may bias the observations made by the researcher in particular ways.