Has Silicon Valley been building the wrong things?<\/p>\n\n

Despite its self help-y title, writer\/designer\/academic Ian Bogost\u2019s forthcoming book \u201cThe Small Stuff: How to Lead a More Gratifying Life\u201d<\/a> asks some pointed questions about how technology has transformed our experience of the physical world. Using Bogost\u2019s popular article in the Atlantic about the decline of stick shift cars<\/a> as a springboard, \u201cThe Small Stuff\u201d argues that many aspects of our daily existence \u2014 from cars to doors to bathrooms \u2014 have become dematerialized.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cBasically, it’s the idea that we’ve become disconnected from the sensory world, and the reason that happened is what you might call convenience technologies,\u201d Bogost told me, though he was quick to add that technology isn\u2019t the only thing driving this change. \u201cAll sorts of factors \u2014 not just tech, and certainly not just Silicon Valley-style technology \u2014 have distanced people from the world that they inhabit, they have stripped away the texture of everyday life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

In fact, while Bogost nodded to other books criticizing the tech industry, he said he\u2019s become \u201ca little bored with the constant critique.” So he’s currently less focused on calling for broad societal change and more on finding “gratification” in everyday sensory experiences. <\/p>\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a lot to put on ordinary people to say, \u2018Well, we just need to solve wealth inequality or capitalism, and then we’ll be able to get back to experiencing our lives fully,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cOrdinary people don\u2019t need to wait for that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

During our interview (which I\u2019ve edited for length and clarity), we also discussed the tradeoff between convenience and experience, how Silicon Valley can do better, and the \u201chipster reclamation of nostalgia.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

You wrote this great piece <\/strong>about the stick shift<\/strong><\/a>. How did that lead you to these bigger ideas about \u201cthe small stuff\u201d? How did you realize there was a book in this?<\/strong><\/p>\n