We're discovering that a lot of the hype around multi-tasking is just that, hype.

It seems that while we appear to be doing many things at once, we really are fragmenting our time so badly that lots of things seem to be getting done, but not with the attention to any one task required to achieve a quality result. Mother Nature has yet to catch up with our technologies, and playing with more toys than we can handle at the same time can have fatal results. Just ask the driver ahead of you, trying to text message her husband about what he's cooking for diner, who drifts into the breakdown lane and is jarred back to attention only by the irregular surface of the road scaring you and her half to death.

There is one area, however, in which the need for speed seems effective - on our central nervous system. The more scenes we see on the tube, the harder it is to pull away. The frequent changes of scene cuts hold us hostage to advertisers and Hollywood producers. The image rate is the new metronome. We know it when we see it. The quick action of the movie frames that never stop passing in front of us - each change coming faster and faster to catch any drifting eye to force it back to the center of the screen. We've known this for a long time. Watching the classics can be a painful experience as we see a scene unfold at what feels like a glacial pace. The heroine stands by the passenger door and we actually watch the hero get out of the driver's side, walk around and open the door for his presumed romantic interest. Oh jeez, hurry it up already!

Can you imagine such a scene today - all the slack is taken out. The car pulls up and we watch from the driver's perspective as the woman, already there at the curb, simply gets in and off they go, with important mood music already being played on the car audio system.

Just this year, last week in fact, a new milestone has been passed. Maybe you saw it. If you watched CSI, you will have noticed not only split screens to show you multiple sub-plots unfolding, but the voice over of one storyline explains the new scene as it emerges until it shifts your attention to a third scene where you casually resume the main plot without having missed a beat. That's fast and it's multi-tasking at its best - so long as you don't really need to pay close attention and there are no unfortunate consequences for handing over your active mind to the sorcerer who has figured out how to hypnotize you to the set.

Why do I mention all this? Because we think that as we stuff more into a 24-hour day we can fool ourselves into believing that we are getting a lot done and that it is important. What we don't realize is how our lives have become the cliché. We are now working for machines rather than enjoying their working for us. Just check the blackberry on your hip or in your purse one more time at the dinner table and you'll see what I mean. And it isn't because we are conditioned (though we are) to "keep up," we are under the control of a world that demands our connectedness (responsiveness) round the clock.

So where's it getting us? Let's find out. How has your perception of time changed in your lifetime? How do you multi-task in ways that leave you satisfied? Likewise, how have you retaken control over your time and how have you made your connectedness meaningful in pursuit of creating a good (not necessarily material) life? Take a few minutes and comment below. Thanks.