Consumer technology is embedded in our lives, capturing our imaginations and our entertainment hours. It minds our schedules and our children. Products are status, cross-cultural and cross-generational and they are easily attainable at any price point. Those reluctant to succumb to tech pressure are surely being dragged in or being left out. And the company that understands these social trends and how they are shaping technology trends is the company that will engage with consumers.

To further understand Gartner's declaration about the "consumerization of IT" and how consumers are driving technology, we asked Penn Schoen & Berland to take a snapshot. Confirming that technology plays a role in daily life and has changed the way we live and communicate, fifty six percent of respondents said they can't imagine life without portable devices. Twenty two percent of people actually sleep with their mobile phones! However, tech gadgets still aren't viewed as essential as the car or refrigerator. Click here to see more about our findings

A key platform we examined was the digital home. Despite worthy efforts to assimilate the technology, our results suggest that the digital home is perceived as expensive or difficult to set up and more than two thirds of our respondents couldn't even define it. Yet we saw that many people participate in discrete activities that are actually components of the digital home premise. Thirty percent of those polled will be buying a plasma or LCD television this year. We conclude that more simplified product messages and functions developed for key audiences might enable the digital home more quickly. Click here to learn more about consumers' thoughts on the digital home.