Depending on your source, the average American spends nearly 50 hours a week in front of a screen for non-work purposes. Some sources put that number closer to 9 or 10 hours a day. Most of that is spent watching TV, playing video games, and browsing social networks. About 75 years ago, that number was zero and it has been rising steadily ever since. I’m not a historian, but I’m fairly confident that no other period in human history has seen such a complete transformation of what daily life looks like for most people on Earth. One of the interesting byproducts of this sweeping change is that we have never before had such a clear window into the lives of those beyond our immediate sphere. Movies, TV shows, online videos, and social networks have opened our eyes to all of the ways that people are living their lives. To keep our attention, …