37 Ethnographic studies of Internet cafés, such as the study by Miller and Slater (2000), investigate how technologies, such as the computer and the Internet, are assimilated into everyday life. A detailed study of what people find in the Internet, how they relate to it, and how they consume the technology (i.e., how they use its features and possibilities) furthers our understanding of technology and its assimilation in everyday life. Studying a particular instance of this assimilation will provide the basis for wider generalizations and theoretical elaboration. As Miller and Slater (2000, 1) write, “one can use this particularism as a solid grounding for comparative ethnography.” In the case of Tuguegarao, the results of the study are generalizable since our subjects are mostly unexceptional. Tuguegarao is described as “rurban” rather than urban because of its persisting rural attitude and lifestyle. Modern life is only experienced in the center of the city, where the infrastructure supports its practice. In contrast, life in Tuguegarao’s periphery is still mostly agricultural and traditional. The results of this ethnographic study of Internet use in Tuguegarao indicate how people convert a technology—seen as cold, rigid, and lifeless—as a part of their everyday lives, playing an important role in binding and maintaining not only familial ties but also romantic and friendly relations, transforming personalities, A STUDY OF INTERNET CAFÉS: IDENTITY, FREEDOM AND COMMUNICATIVE EXTENSION Kristinne Joyce Lara-de Leon This research is a descriptive-qualitative study of Internet usage and its sociocultural consequences in a small Philippine city. It describes the consequences on identity, freedom, communication. It answers the following specific questions; (1) Who uses Internet Cafés? (2) How do these individuals use the Internet? (3) What effects does it have on the users’ attitudes and worldviews? (4) What are the social interactions within Internet Cafés? Despite the low penetration rate of the Internet in the Philippines (eight percent) as compared to mobile phones (35 percent), this technology entered and blended into the routines of everyday life. First, the results of this study show that the distinction between the actual and the virtual has become blurred. Secondly, the blurring and blending of the virtual-actual has led into new ways of self-exploration. Lastly, the expansion of Internet cafés opens up Tuguegarao City to the possible emergence of new and global forms of relationships. Keywords:Internet cafés, identity, freedom, sociality