Sitting in a meeting while using instant messanger to talk to someone else in the meeting and simulatenously checking email and looking something up online? Yeah, I’ve done that.

The ubiquity of technology in the lives of executives, other businesspeople and consumers has created a subculture of the Always On — and a brewing tension between productivity and freneticism. For all the efficiency gains that it seemingly provides, the constant stream of data can interrupt not just dinner and family time, but also meetings and creative time, and it can prove very tough to turn off.

The New York Times is on top of it.