Work's Intimacy

This book provides a long-overdue account of online technology andits impact on the work and lifestyles of professional employees. Itmoves between the offices and homes of workers in the knew"knowledge" economy to provide intimate insight into the personal,family, and wider social tensions emerging in today?s rapidlychanging work environment. Drawing on her extensive research, Gregg shows that new mediatechnologies encourage and exacerbate an older tendency amongsalaried professionals to put work at the heart of daily concerns,often at the expense of other sources of intimacy and fulfillment.New media technologies from mobile phones to laptops and tabletcomputers, have been marketed as devices that give us the freedomto work where we want, when we want, but little attention has beenpaid to the consequences of this shift, which has seen work moveout of the office and into cafés, trains, living rooms, diningrooms, and bedrooms. This professional "presence bleed" leads towork concerns impinging on the personal lives of employees in newand unforseen ways. This groundbreaking book explores how aspiring and establishedprofessionals each try to cope with the unprecedented intimacy oftechnologically-mediated work, and how its seductions seem poisedto triumph over the few remaining relationships that may stand inits way