power surge

Today's New York Times reports how consumer appliances are accounting for a huge amount of the energy we use. And they're just talking about electronic energy. On this bright Sunday morning I wasted 90 minutes trying to add one song to my iPod -- and still didn't get it right; I'm going to have to bribe my son to help, because Apple makes you pay $29 for a single call to their support desk! How much time do we waste on a typical day with our so-called labor-saving devices? How many unnecessary calls do we make just because we have cellphones? How much work are we willing to do to be entertained?