Hyperconnected

A new study by Nortel found that approximately "16% of the global information workforce already 'Hyperconnected,' more significantly, another 36% will be joining them soon!"

By hyperconnected, they mean people who are constantly on their cell phones, texting, twittering, facebooking, blogging, emailing, etc. The hyperconnected are the type of people who "frequently override the little notifier app. that checks [their email] once a minute because an e-mail could have arrived in the intervening 60 seconds." Quote from a recent Time article.

Of course Science Fiction predicted this type of thing way before it actually became possible and usually in a chilling way. If you haven't read The Machine Stops by E.M. Forster (yes the guy who wrote A Room with a View and Howard's End but we can forgive him for that), then take a few minutes to do so now. You'll understand why this story has become so relevant in recent years. This is required reading for my Science and Science Fiction students.