Thoughts on one-to-one.

For months, I've been thinking about how so many people in my LinkedIn and Facebook networks could waste so much time, and I suppose, energy on asinine memes like "what's the first word you see," or "can you find the missing number."

Each of these particular games remind me of the sort of things that "Highlights" magazine published when I was a little kid. It's about the stupidest crap you'll ever run across, yet it sweeps through my network like beard-lice through Williamsburg.

Here's the thing that the people heralding the one-to-one future have missed.

People, no matter how atomized or sophisticated, want to feel like they're part of something. They want to feel they belong. They want something to talk about the next day at work. They want, in short, something to share.

I know there are legions of pundits who are still declaring mass media dead. But I think our national calendar denies this. Now, though it's April, we are, as a nation, tuned into March Madness. We're getting ready for another season of "Mad Men." We just got through the Academy Awards and the Winter Olympics.

These are national happenings.

Because we need national happenings.

As much as we value our individuality, we are social animals.

Technology will not change that.