The Small Stuff: How to Lead a More Gratifying Life

Atlantic columnist Bogost (Play Anything) makes a convincing case for reclaiming “the lost joy of everyday interactions” with the sensory world. According to the author, the gratification of interacting with the physical world has declined as technology has “dematerialized” society, reducing opportunities to use physical tickets, operate a stick shift, and more. This has coincided with the rise of behavioral science-supported ideas that happiness rests on big-picture goals and long-term satisfaction, and that sensory pleasures are distracting. Such arguments are flawed, Bogot contends, because they assume sensory gratification gets in the way of seeking big-picture happiness, and because they frame happiness as a matter of optimizing one’s life. In reality, happiness is more nuanced and rests in part on the joys of engaging “with the rich, dense” physical world and inhabiting the small, seemingly unremarkable moments that comprise most of life. The author’s suggested solutions, which consist mostly of actively tuning into one’s senses or taking up a physical hobby like knitting, aren’t novel, but he persuasively highlights what’s lost when people drift away from “the equipment that runs their daily lives.” Readers will want to stop and smell the roses. (July)