We have computers to help us at work, robots to assist us on the assembly line, and a couple decades of billionaire-making software development to increase our efficiency. So productivity must be at an all-time high, right? Maybe not. According to Tyler Cowen in the NYT Upshot, “American middle class wages haven’t been rising as rapidly as they once were, and a slowdown in productivity growth is probably an important cause.” It’s often helpful to try to answer these macro-economic questions from a personal perspective. And there’s no doubt that my personal productivity has dramatically increased during the Internet era (as long as productivity is measured by GIF-sharing, participation in hilarious memes, and total number of weekly retweets.)