President Obama lamented Sunday that "with iPads and iPods," information has become a distraction that is putting new pressures on the U.S.A. and "democracy."

"’You’re coming of age in a 24/7 media environment that bombards us with all kinds of content and exposes us to all kinds of arguments, some of which don’t always rank all that high on the truth meter,’ Obama said at Hampton University, Virginia," Reuters reports. "’With iPods and iPads and Xboxes and PlayStations, — none of which I know how to work — information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation,’ Obama said."

‘All of this is not only putting new pressures on you, it is putting new pressures on our country and on our democracy… We can’t stop these changes… but we can adapt to them,’ Obama said, adding that US workers were in a battle with well-educated foreign workers. ‘Education… can fortify you, as it did earlier generations, to meet the tests of your own time,’ he said."

The current information flow – more tidal wave – is going to place a premium on new tools and techniques. Where we once thought the network would be the ultimate filter, it’s already proving not to be the case.

Stowe flags, with some merit, that there are bigger fish to fry right now.