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Turkle, S. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2006. "Always-On/Always-On-You: The Tethered Self"'Handbook of Mobile Communications and Social Change

In this article Turtle examines the way our lives have been impacted by our ability to remain perpetually online, connected and present in an online, shared space and the benefits this provides us, as well as the consequences of such a significant shift in global lifestyle over the past few decades. She aims to explore the notion of a 'second self' by looking at the ways in which we manifest alternate identities for ourselves in the virtual world, such as in life simulation games, as well as thinking about the ability that technology grants us to be 'emotionally and socially' in one physical place while in reality we are in another. She does this in providing anecdotal observations about her daughter on a trip to Paris, as well as interviewing both teenagers and adults to gain their perspective on why they pursue online realities and how it subsequently affects their real lives. The article is useful when thinking about 'Always-on culture' as it provides a detailed commentary on how a variety of online uses can impact a variety of social groups, being aware of both the advantages and disadvantages that technology has brought into our lives. The main limitation of the article, however is that there is a distinct lack of hard evidence to back up her claims and observations, while she has the upper hand in terms of one-to-one discussion which has provoked candid and in-depth responses, there are little to no statistics with which she can prop up her wider claims and conjectures. This article, while useful will not form the basis of my research due to the fact it is more of a commentary on the issues presented, and therefore may not provide a lot of material from which I can form my own arguments, however I am likely to use it as a supplementary resource.