New communication technologies such as smart phones and social media are rapidly diffusing across the globe among both children and adults. Fifteen percent of U.S. adults have used an online dating site. American teens spend an average of nine hours a day engaged in social media such as online videos or music. Ninety-one percent of U.S. adults own a cell phone, as do 89% of adults in Nigeria, 83% in Ghana, 76% in Bangladesh and 65% in Uganda. As of the fourth quarter of 2016, Facebook had 1.86 billion monthly active users worldwide. Technological changes such as these are rapidly changing how couples meet and form relationships, how parents raise their children, and how family members remain connected across long distances. The 2017 National Symposium on Family Issues focuses on how these dramatic changes are shaping and changing families and family life in both positive and negative ways and is aimed at identifying novel directions for population and family research.