From a theoretical perspective, our study showed, that those experienced in using SMC at work are probably accustomed to negotiating the border between work and family and combining their professional and private identities more efficiently. In addition, those individuals had used the necessary technologies before the COVID-19 pandemic. Hence, there was less struggle within work issues and the management of work within the family context. This finding fits generally well with the work–family border theory (Clark, 2000) and theories on boundary management and identity negotiation (Fieseler et al., 2015; Ollier-Malaterre et al., 2013. At the same time, the crisis was challenging for those who wanted to keep their work and family lives strictly separated for a variety of reasons. As there is no return after a digital leap, a longer perspective on how these people are coping is possibly important. The potential impacts on work exhaustion and burnout are likely to come later.
