One Thing at a Time - That's What My Dad Used to Tell Me
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Marshall McLuhan - He Got the Message in 1964
2007 - One Thing at a Time? HA! Tell THAT to my Cell Phone, PDA, Laptop & 1,000+ Clients
This morning, I was multi-tasking . . .
~~ I was reading the Bay City Times~
~~ worrying about impending spring yard work~
~~ watching both the Sports Reporters on ESPN and the Weather Channel (Picture in Picture)~
~~ chatting (online) on MSN with both Dave Rogers and Julie Munger about tonight's articles for MyBayCity~ ~~ exchanging e-mails with my son Chris about a weekend Internet server problem in Kentucky that was effecting client web site service levels~
~~ keeping an eye on the incoming rain on another Weather Channel "Maps in Motion" on my laptop~
~~ when my cell phone beeped - alerting me to a text message from my daughter in Florida, informing me that she is feeling great but that one of her cats is not feeling well~
~~ I had already muted Pandora Internet Radio's "Classic Disco" on my laptop so that I could hear the audio from the Sports Reporters. (Bob Ryan is my favorite~
~~ when my cell phone rang - it was fishing buddy, Mike Davison - wondering if the Pere Marquette (which is at near-flood stage) river was still too high to fish on Wednesday~
Baby . . . That's multi-tasking . . .
Eight hours later, I'm writing this column about multi-tasking and the only thought in my head is the opening sentence of A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens, referring to the time of the French Revolution:
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
My all-time favorite book from the 1960's is Marshall McLuhan's "Understanding Media."
The phrase, "The Medium is the Message, was coined by McLuhan in his 1964 book. McLuhan's says that the generic form of media is more important than any "meaning" or "content" that the media conveys.
For Marshall McLuhan, the content of media was irrelevant. The form of the medium itself is what McLuhan claimed changed our consciousness.
The Medium is the Message
I remember when it was a REALLY big deal that the Today show was on NBC early in the morning -- EVERY Day. (Yes, boys and girls, television in the 1950's was not 24/7.)
In 2007, we have television news in the morning. We have news at noon. We have early news at 10pm. Late news at 11. We have weather on the 8's. We have 24/7 television news channels.
One thing sure, nobody wants old news.
In fact, I (for example) want to receive an e-mail from the L.A. Times each time that Meghan Daum posts a column on the Internet. And, I expect them to send me the link to the column in the e-mail.
I want tornado warnings blinking on my desktop. I want the same warning text-messaged to my cell phone.
We don't wait. I want it, demand it, NOW. At MyBayCity, we have internal tracking software that sends me an e-mail and a text message every time Julie, Dave, Steve or Karen posts an article for our next issue. And . . . as many of you know, MyBayCity sends you an e-mail every time we publish a new issue.
No one wants to wait. We feel the need to be "in the flow."
By the time the daily paper hits my front porch every night, I already know the details of the big stories. I get non-stop info from the Internet.
And it's not that we're reading less. In fact, I think "readers" read more now. People that want to know, now go to the Internet as their first source for current info. They search spontaneously for news that's pertinent to them.
A few years back, I remember watching my 12th grade daughter chat non-stop on AOL Messenger with a half-dozen friends while writing a research paper for a History class. Two things about that bothered me. (1) She was never concentrating completely on the research paper. (2) I wondered how many other people were chatting with the people she was chatting with. And, did anyone care? I'm pretty sure they didn't even consider the possibilities.
In this digital, electronic, frenzied environment, it's no longer a surprise to see someone multi-tasking. We take phone calls during restaurant luncheons. (I hate those Bluetooth ear things.) We text message and make cell calls at red lights. We have call-waiting, call-forwarding and call screening. I can get e-mail on my cell phone anywhere.
I seldom do only one thing at any one time.
I check sports scores while watching Greg House or Two-and-a-half Men. I answer e-mail during NCAA basketball tournament games.
Is this good? Bad? Doesn't matter? I really don't know.
If you figure out the answer . . . let me know.
Send me an e-mail. Text message my phone. I'm always here, online, waiting, ready to receive your info, needing to connect . . .
But when we connect, if you think I'm focused solely on you . . . well . . . not likely . . . I think that 1964 McLuhan guy had it nailed . . . It's not only the best of times. It's also the worst of times.
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O. J. Cunningham |
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