Bringing the family together on WhatsApp

This article analyses contemporary reconfigurations of the work of maintaining family ties, enabled by the adoption of instant messaging. It examines challenges to the gendered distribution of this work of maintaining ties in the collective space of groups. Based on a qualitative survey of fifty adults, it shows that group conversations allow for more people to be involved in this work, thanks to the collective aspect of possible interactions and micro-interactions. It also highlights the fact that women still bear most of the load of this relational work: maintaining group conversations generates new micro-tasks; maintaining ties with the extended family remains particularly undervalued by men; and groups become part of other persistent practices – also still the responsibility of women.