>”The real-world interaction of the internet and the ‘long tail’ of the Semantic Web will enable everyone to find the perfect job for them, the right opportunity, so that people in general are happier, healthier, and more productive.”
– Anonymous respondent

>”The result may be longer, less-efficient working hours and more stressful home life.” – Victoria Nash, director of graduate studies and policy and research officer, the Oxford Internet Institute

Which of these two views I agree with depends on whether my Comcast connection happens to be working that day. One of my 15-year old son’s friends shared that he wants to have a job like mine someday. From his vantage point, I suppose it looks pretty cushy — I work for myself, teach 2 days a week (and prepare 2 more), and pretty much work at my own pace. Problem is most of the time ‘my own pace’ is 24/7. That’s okay — most of the time. The exception is when I encounter a technology glitch that drains productivity and leaves me in a state of frustration. My friends and family are tired of hearing me whine about the many ways AT&T, Comcast, Sony, HP, Apple, Linksys, Netgear and more conspire against me.

So I was heartened to learn that my issues are not generational. According to the Pew Research Center, Millennials have just as much trouble with their technology as those of us who learned computer-ese as a second language. 18-29 year olds experience failures of their Internet, cell phones and computers at a rate roughly comparable to their elders.
As I sit here contemplating shifting my digital life over to a new, as yet unfamiliar laptop, I am reflecting on our digital dependency. Our lives and livelihoods are increasingly dependent on touch screens, touch pads and touchy software. I can only hope that there will be a parallel growth in services that make them all play nicely together.