Time, The Grind, and Ben Stein

A friend's Facebook status:

"My curfew was the street lights. My mom called my name, not my cell. 

I played outside with friends, not online. If I didn't eat what my mom cooked, then I didn't eat. Sanitizer didn't exist, but you could get your mouth washed out with soap. 

Getting dirty was OK, and neighbors cared as much as our parents did. Repost if you once drank water out of a garden hose and survived." 

Were those really the 'good old days?' 

Face to face. Not Facebook.

Dumbphones. Not smartphones.

C:>diskcopy. Don't even try it now or you might get sued.

During a recent episode of CBS Sunday Morning, Ben Stein noted, in his Buellerish way, that perhaps the reason time and workplace productivity seem to escape us is due, in part, to our extraordinary gadget usage.  

Rude.

I can connect in ways never before. I can spend time commenting on how cute my 3rd grade teacher's dog looks with that vest. I have over 800 friends on Facebook! I can fritter hours away and have the appearance of being productive.

OK, Mr. Stein, you win.


But what if... What if we didn't have those gadgets? Would we be better off? Would we connect with each other more regularly?


I suppose we'd have more time on our hands. 


We could innovate and create make more gadgets. Nice.