Technology Affects on the Family

Technology is binding the world of work and the world of home
in ways that redefine what is means to be in each.   Some changes are
dramatic, others are subtle, but the changes are experienced in the
mundane activities of everyday life.   To begin this presentation I
will tell you a story.   This story may not reflect your own lives, but
I imagine some details will have a familiar ring to them.

        John is a middle-aged product development manager at a high
tech company in Silicon Valley. He bemoans the fact that he no longer
has the kind of personnel support he had even 10 years ago.   While
he shares an administrative assistant with several other managers,
he is now expected to handle his own communications, create his own
presentations and manage his own time and financial budget.   After
all, he now has a PC to improve his productivity, and interactive
on-line calenders to manage his time.   The nature of his work
means that he is in constant contact with engineers, the general
managers above him, and his counterparts in different sites in his
international company.   He has more contact, and more in common,
with his counterpart in Taiwan than the person in the next cubicle.
He tries very hard not to take too much work home with him, preferring
to work late on site, but the international nature of his work means
he is on the phone at midnight and at dawn.   He is grateful for
E-mail and voice mail since they can fit his schedule.   Realistically,
he thinks about work problems constantly, in his garden, and in his
car. He talks about his work all the time with his wife and volunteers
to install network servers at his daughter's school on Net Day.

                Meanwhile, his administrative assistant, Sharon,
complains that her work load is overwhelming, even to the point where
she is expected to move furniture and take out trash.   She is expected
to learn new programs and upgrades on her own time.   Both John and
Sharon now take work...