Couples can explore any of the two forms of surrogacy. Traditional surrogacy involves artificial insemination of a father’s sperms and raising the child after the being delivered. Gestational surrogacy on the other hand involves a Vitro-fertilization process between eggs and sperms of a couple delivered by another lady without any genetic connection. Surrogacy affects the fundamental setting of a traditional family from the social, cultural and digital anthropology perspectives.
Surrogacy has changed the way families raise children. The economic and social pressures mean that parents are less connected to their kids and depend on digital platforms for communication. However, despite the erosion of the traditional family setup, the digital transformation means that surrogate mothers can interact with their kids using various digital platforms. A family being a basic social institution, individuals with biological problems can still have children under the surrogacy arrangement (Halliday, 2016). The affinity to raise families also increases as the burden of parenthood reduces with the surrogate arrangement. The fear of getting into pregnancy and the subsequent responsibility for toddlers reduces under this arrangement. Digital platforms like, Digital Native, help mothers connect with others to learn on community connections. Such platforms empower young women and ladies to learn more about parenthood and how to navigate through various situations ( Woodbury, 2021). On kinship, surrogacy erodes the kinship ties between the child and the family of the parents. Despite taking care of a surrogate child, the lack of genetic connection means the mother cannot claim the biological ownership of the child. Consequently, the erosion of kinship ties continues to increase with the rising cases of surrogacy.
In conclusion, the surrogacy arrangement has fundamental effects on the socio-cultural and digital anthropology in society. The arrangement is backed by law and has been consistent in supporting modern families with committed parents. Coupled with the digital transformation, families can now live apart and still maintain normal ties albeit within different social structure from the traditional one. Couples have lesser responsibility and commitment to raising children.
References
Halliday, S. (2016). Digital kinship: Tech time is strengthening families, not destroying them. Web.
Woodbury, R. (2021). Digital Kinship: How the Internet Is Reacting to the Loneliness Epidemic. Web.