ABSTRACT
Gina’s quest for efficiency is driven by her commitments. She has a demanding job as a high-level consultant in Northwest Associates. Yet, like many American professional women, she also manages her own household, which includes a husband and child. To keep her husband organized, she confesses that she clears out his old personal items and simply throws them away if he doesn’t miss them. “I take bags upstairs into the attic,” she says, laughing. “I leave them there for six months. If he has absolutely no mental recall, I take them to Goodwill. My husband doesn’t even know that I’ve thrown away six bags of his clothes!” She’s similarly organized when it comes to using ICTs to supply her household online. “I go on there [the Internet], I do my groceries, I buy books, I buy toys, I get diapers,” she says. “So I don’t have to spend seven hours at the store. I will pay a hundred dollars [in service fees] to have the privilege of doing that. That’s how I use the Internet.”
