The Impact of Cybercafés on the Connectedness of Children Left Behind by Overseas Filipino Workers

Abstract

This in-depth study looks at the use of cybercafés by children of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). It determines how cybercafés function as an alternative to home internet access in terms of the internet’s function to maintain familial connectedness. The impact of using public access venues (public access venues) in strengthening the connectedness of the child to the parent was explored. The children’s public access venue-use was operationalized in terms of both frequency of use and the use of various online applications, both synchronous and asynchronous, to communicate with their parents. On the other hand, connectedness was based on the children’s perceived knowledge of their parents’ lives overseas, the children’s perception of their parents’ knowledge about them, and the children’s perception of their parents’ efforts to know more about them.