No pants please, we're insurers

Different cubes, same idea.

I once worked in the communications department of an insurance company that rhymes with Schreat-Schmest Schmife.

Although the place has a reputation for being as conservative as the angry hyphen between its first and second name, the fact is that sometimes pants in the workplace are optional.

Pantless story 1

One fine day, my pal Lisa stopped by for a visit and I noticed that she had zipper pockets.

Without thinking, I unzipped one - and we were both startled when her pants fell down.

"What are you doing?!" we screamed at each other.

Pants back on and secured, apologies were made, lunch was bought, and we never spoke of it again.

Pantless story 2

I shared one wall of a cube (staff parlance for "cubicle") with my friend, Barb.

At the back of the cube there was a gap we could stick our heads through to talk to one another - not unlike Uncle Fester used to do on the Addams Family.

On one occasion, I stuck my head through the gap and was surprised to see Barb standing there in her ladygitch.

She didn't see me, so I retreated and said nothing for a year. At the one-year mark, after my emotional scars had almost healed, I told her (and everyone I could think of, in person and online) that I'd seen her working in her knickers. 

She burst out laughing and explained that she was changing into (cycling shorts or ski pants or something) and didn't know anyone else was around.

However, I think she and I still both know she was working without pants on.

What happens to TV when we're too distracted to watch?

Then.

Now.

Watching TV used to be so simple.

When I was but a lad (see top photo), we had one TV with 13 channels and no remote control - not because we lost it, but because there never was one.

We weren't poor; in fact, what we had was state of the art, because we'd somehow figured out how to get the TV audio to play through those big-ass stereo speakers. Bigger stereo speakers meant louder stereo speakers and, therefore, better stereo speakers.

Meanwhile, the only distraction media to be found in the room was that box of Pizza Place pizza and smashing pair of argyle socks.

What a difference a decade or two makes.

DVRs, video on demand, streaming, laptops, iPads, video games, smartphones, the Internet in general and social media in particular have turned TV into a support medium, driving the audience more and more away from the TV and onto the Internet, in its many forms.

As AdAge's Brian Monahan recently said in this excellent article, people are turning to their smartphones and other "companion media" in droves when they watch TV, lowering their intellectual and emotional engagement with TV shows and ad content:

"Online video, with a less predictable cadence and an active user experience, does a significantly better job at holding attention. While distraction media is a threat to the value of video advertising, it also represents an opportunity to deliver a deeper companion experience to the on-screen content and ads. The consumers have the tools; it's up to the industry to give them compelling content."

I'd go one further and suggest that it won't be much longer until all of our TV networks stream all of their content on mobile devices for free at the same time they broadcast it on TV (as so many apps already do). After all, it's the audience networks that now tell the TV networks what to do, and in a mobile world, we want the flexibility to watch our content where and when we're ready to do it.

As consumption patterns continue to fragment across devices, it will be the TV content providers focusing on smart aggregation and intelligent-content networks that will ultimately rule the world by knowing what we watch and where, and allowing us to pick up where we left off on the device of our choice.

Brands (like Netflix, for example) will continue to develop their own content, merchandise, and transactions on their own branded platforms. The ultimate goal: to deliver all of the content, shopping, and advertising you want on a targeted, individual basis.

If they build it, we will watch.