Two TV Sets and Two Cadillac Cars, You Know It Ain't Gonna Help Me At All

This is what we get with a culture raised on the combined diet of quick cuts of Sesame Street, Nintendo, and the internet.

Mr. Brotherton, the consultant, wrote in an e-mail message that it was customary now for professionals to lay BlackBerrys or iPhones on a conference table before a meeting — like gunfighters placing their Colt revolvers on the card tables in a saloon. “It’s a not-so-subtle way of signaling ‘I’m connected. I’m busy. I’m important. And if this meeting doesn’t hold my interest, I’ve got 10 other things I can do instead.’ ”

Don't get me wrong, though. I know that in a few months, I'm going to be handed a Blackberry during my initial days on the job and from there on out it is going to be a constant source of information and distraction. It just seems that we've lost something when we adopt the "entertain me or else" mindset that seems so prevalent in the continued upheaval of the technological age.

Current Reading
An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy 1917-1963 by Robert Dallek