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It is now well documented that the experience of migration has undergone a radical transformation in recent decades, notably with the emergence of transnational modes of sociality in both families and communities. The processes of migration have always challenged the ta en-for-granted assumption that physical proximity is necessary for the maintenance of significant social ties. Now, more than ever before, the proliferation of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and new media environments has begun to challenge the premise that strong relationships require face-to-face interactions. Even more than affordable travel, it is the expansion and enhancement of technologies of communication such as the internet, smartphones and social media that have contributed to the recent, startling emergence of a new social environment of ubiquitous connectivity.

This new social reality transforms sociality in (post) modern societies in complex ways. To reflect these transformations, a new lexicon has begun to develop that charts the social impacts of new applications of such technologies. The important wor of Castells (1996) on the ‘networ society’points to the ways in which communication