An Information Overload sighting at a technology conference I enjoyed today:

One speaker, a senior manager in a hi-tech multinational, made use of the TV series “House” to illustrate a point. Then he confessed:

I don’t watch House. My wife does watch it, and I do mail at the same time.

A lovely domestic  tableau, that: husband and wife sitting serenely in the living room, close in space but totally apart in spirit, thanks to the 24×7 demands of email overload.

By contrast, I recall the early years of Television in the sixties, when our entire family would flock once a week to my Grandma’s home (she had the only TV set in the familt back then) to watch  “The Forsyte Saga” on the single B&W channel available then. Television watching – for all its shortcomings – was at least about family togetherness in the days before email!