Fisher, 2014, p. 4). Facebook involves more than just a webpage, users and how the users use
this webpage. It is a whole system influenced by different actors in all directions and on every
level. What this means is that, rather than creating new, Facebook intensifies already existing
relationships through intensified intimacy and a potentially jealous gaze. Lambert draws on
Turkle´s work, placing himself closer to mediation than facilitation with describing Facebook
as a contemporary shift towards a society with mediated systems (Lambert, 2013, p. 184).
However, he still criticizes her view as a bit naïve when Turkle writes that social media ask us
to represent our self in simplified ways (Turkle, 2011, p. 185). Lambert writes that:
“It neglects how people mobilize resources of identification. It misses the complexity of
performance context… …Most importantly, it does not take into account how performances
extend into social interactions, becoming complex performances of connection. The selfpresentation on Facebook are not simplistic, but are rich, layered processes.” (Lambert, 2013,
p. 174)
The mediation theory distinguishes between online and offline, while the theory of attainment
focuses on the other hand, at technology as something that is part of our humanity and says
that you cannot distinguish between online and offline. A relationship is as much dependent
today on the “online” sphere as the “offline,” and the two are now the same (D. Miller &
Sinanan, 2014, p. 6). Turkle argues for robotics as, in themselves, a proposal for substitution
for people. In doing so, Turkle points out that recent technological advances are leading to a
loss of something essential about humanity, which is different from Miller and Sinanan´s
view (D. Miller & Sinanan, 2014, p. 5). Turkle regards technology as something artificial that
imposes itself between the conversationalist and mediates that conversation, rather than to
facilitates the conversation.
I will use Turkle´s term tethered self, roughly explained as a connected self. She writes how
the smartphone is always-on/always-on-you, which is something most people find relatable
(Turkle, 2011). She writes that people cannot get enough of each other, as long as we can
keep it at a distance, which social media allows. Being tethered involves being “one” with
your smartphone; it is a feeling that something is missing if you do not have it nearby. Turkle
talks about how it can be seen as a phantom limb, and as with phantom limbs, gives us
phantom pain or reactions. A feeling of vibration or notification even though nothing had
happened, it is almost as a tick. This view will not be discussed any further, but the thesis will
use the term tethered, then referring to the connected part of Turkle´s argument. In my view,
to be tethered is closer to the theory of attainment, rather than the mediation Turkle argues
towards.
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