In her Home offices and remote parents at Inside Story Melissa Gregg outlines her research on technology’s impact on the lives of employees in the information and communication spheres of the “knowledge economy.” Wireless broadband was the technological advancement that helped the family stay online and be together. Gregg says:

Our interviews revealed the extent to which these new technologies [ social networking sites] encourage the tendency among salaried professionals to put work at the heart of their daily concerns, often at the expense of other sources of fulfilment and intimacy. The growing attraction of mobile communication devices is one of the strongest indications that a substantial number of people see paid employment as the most compelling demonstration of virtue, accomplishment and self-identity that society makes available. With a range of online subcultures developing in support of these tendencies, a mutually reinforcing cycle of chronic connectivity has developed among professionals at each level of the workplace hierarchy.