“TELEVISION AND FAMILY: AN AMBIGUOUS FRIENDSHIP”

Television: means of communication with more presence in everyday life. Aim: to know the role of television in a family system. Qualitative study. Method: phenomenology and ethnography during July 2015. Sampling: families with children from different social and economic backgrounds. Instrument: 14 interviews carried out deeply and field notes. Analysis: supported theory with final hypothesis; saturation verified through persistent observation and validity through methodological triangulation. Results: Time together: identified as making stronger relationships or seen as an obstacle for them. Influential friend: Belief of the guard over the influence of television in children. Game of power: struggle for power scenario. If the television set is absent: feelings that arise from its absence. The television, my loyal friend: the value given by the interviewed to the television. The television was referred to as someone who keeps company in leisure time as well as in everyday activities, loneliness, when eating or going to bed “so as not to feel lonely”. The television starts the day with the family, it is turned on and off with them. It keeps company as an alley for parents by taking of children “it helps for some minutes”. We infer that the television set would have a definite place in the house and the family. Final hypothesis: the television has the role of being another member of the family; it intervenes in the family dynamics, challenges and competes with the parents’ role, maintaining the family homeostasis. The television is personified.