As if we did not have enough to worry about — global recession, the Holy Land at war, and a new administration based on “love means never having to say you’re sorry” — I learned today of yet another devastating challenge.

Close to 7 percent (7.75 million households) in the U.S. are not prepared for the digital broadcast conversion of television airwaves scheduled to take place Feb. 17.

According to published reports, this shortfall is so overwhelming that “officials with President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team asked last week to delay the conversion.”

I have not slept since I heard the news. Of course, I just read it a few minutes ago. But there are probably people who are so consumed with this issue they are not sleeping. Sadly, a group is likely forming up, soliciting funds, and creating grassroots efforts to postpone this grossly unfair moment when some TV sets go dead.

Never mind that even I have heard about the conversion multiple times for more than a year. Never mind that…

…contrary to common misperception, a household will not cease to function if the TV stops working.

I don’t mean this statement as a moral high ground, as some might. I simply mean that we have come to a sad state of affairs when the possibility of losing a TV signal rouses such unrest.

Let’s throw a fit. That’s what a kid would do if he were denied TV, even if he’d been warned for a year the moment was coming.

To paraphrase Marie Antoinette, “Let them eat Internet.”