Humanity has connected itself through roughly three billion networked telephones, computers, traffic lights- even refrigerators and picture frames- because these things make life more convenient and keep US available to those we care about. “It’s ridiculous that my own computer can’t figure out whether I’m in front of it, but a public toilet can,” exclaims Roel Vertegaal of Queen’s University in Ontario.ī. But increasingly, it is not just our kids pulling us three ways at once it is also a relentless barrage of e-mail, alerts, alarms, calls, instant messages and automated notifications, none of them coordinated and all of them oblivious to whether we are busy-or even present. “A complicated life, continually interrupted by competing requests for attention, is as old as procreation,” laughs Ted Selker of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab. To be sure, distractions and multitasking are hardly new to the human condition. Norman, with enthusiasm-perhaps even a hint of pride? in its synthetic voice. “YOUR BATTERY IS NOW FULLY CHARGED,” ANNOUNCED THE LAPTOP COMPUTER to its owner, Donald A.
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