Just about everyone I know reports to me that they feel overworked and stressed. In many cases, they feel near the point of burn-out or suffer from panic attacks.

Business Week magazine offered data to underscore the overworked professional. Over 31% of college-educated males are working 50 or more hours per week on a regular basis, up from 22% in 1980. About 40% of American adults get less than seven hours of sleep on weekdays, up from 34% in 2001. In 1989, Japanese workers put in 10% more hours per year, on average, than American workers; today, the Japanese work 2% fewer hours per year than Americans.

 The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced last year that would consider lifting restrictions in place since the early 1990s that prohibit cell phone use on airplanes. Making a call to your mother, it appears, will not cause the plane to spiral down into the middle of the ocean. All the same, it remains doubtful that the Federal Aviation Administration - which also would have to approve a rule change - will support an end to the ban any time soon.

Good thing. I caught a glimpse of the future of air rage: Travelers will be trying to toss each other out the door of the plane over cell phone use.

Back in 1999, I put together a book addressing what it means to be a "good citizen." I included essays from such luminaries as Cornel West, Robert Bellah, Judith Butler and others. In my own essay, I drew a picture of how our world was changing toward a network society. I wanted to stress that the network society represents not only a new form of economic  development, but the evolution of an entirely different state of human affairs, with peculiar forms of social interaction.

Giving away your customers is not a good business strategy. Oh, and try to bring in more money than you spend. You would think the first business maxim is as obvious as the second. So why then do so many companies fail to embrace the customers that come their way?

With troubling frequency I find myself falling into a state that I call the "customer shuffle." The first incident occurred several years ago when I signed up for cable television service from Comcast. I signed up at a local distributor that represents Comcast in my area. But when I tried to change my service several months later, neither the local distributor nor the national provider would "own" me as a customer. The customer service agents at both companies shuffled me back and forth like I had leprosy. I bid them both adieu.