John Gurda, a Milwaukee historian, had an interesting take in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel the other day on technology and social community, something I have written about  here a few times in the past. Recalling a weekly summer Sunday concert series which a street car company launched in the late 19th century to spur business on an extension of its line, he noted that 6,000 Milwaukee residents would turn out to listen to a local band. This was, he adds, in the era before widespread use of such technology as air conditioning or TV.

The park brought people together as they escaped the heat of their homes for the breeze of a lakeside park.

Think the iPhone gained market share fast? Gurda quotes Robert Putnam ,author of "Bowling Alone," on television's rise from 10 percent market penetration in the US in 1950 to 90 percent in 1959. "Practically overnight, viewing became far and away the nation's leading leisure-time 'activity.' "