Jason Unger

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Just what Jack Bauer needs.

According to a survey from Yahoo! and OMD Worldwide, technology helps us regular folks pack 43 hours of work/activity into a 24 hour period. From watching TV while surfing the Internet to listening to the radio while blogging (shaving while driving?), we can get more done with technology.

"While using the Internet, people are also doing two or three other things, often watching TV or talking on the phone," said Mike Hess, global director of research at OMD, part of Omnicom Group.

On average, families said they spent 3.6 hours per day using the Internet, 2.5 hours daily watching television and one hour on instant messaging. Smaller increments of time were spent playing video games, listening to the radio and digital music players, reading newspapers and Internet blogs, as well as doing household chores.

It's a very interesting study, though the obvious question is: how well do people accomplish overlapping tasks?

I know that with my two-monitor setup, I can focus on one screen while waiting for something to happen on the other.

But can you really put out a quality product if you are distracted by something else? Can you really retain what just happened on the TV show if you're on the phone?

The obvious answer here is no.

So while we might get more done, are things really getting done as well as they could/should be?

PS: The folks at 43Things must be loving these survey results.