Peter Kafka

Recent Posts by Peter Kafka

You Probably Won’t Change That Dial, Because You’re Busy Checking Email

No surprise that people watch TV at the same time they play with their iPhones and iPads. But, for the record, Nielsen says that 40 percent of couch potatoes are simultaneously multiscreening every day.

More interesting is what they’re doing with their gadgets while the TV is on.

There are a lot of people trying to convince TV networks and advertisers that they can help tie online behavior to what’s on the tube, and they may be right: About a third of multitaskers use their smartphones or tablets to check out something related to something on TV.

But many more are doing stuff that has nothing at all to do with what’s on. Most likely behavior: Checking email.

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Just as the atom bomb was the weapon that was supposed to render war obsolete, the Internet seems like capitalism’s ultimate feat of self-destructive genius, an economic doomsday device rendering it impossible for anyone to ever make a profit off anything again. It’s especially hopeless for those whose work is easily digitized and accessed free of charge.

— Author Tim Kreider on not getting paid for one’s work