The Five Tools of Hedonic Design
Psychologists sometimes refer to this concept as the “hedonic treadmill”: the idea that we’re always working hard to change our life situation, but we actually never feel very different.
Mark Manson • The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life (Mark Manson Collection Book 1)
If you cycle through this feedback loop ferociously for ten years, you will end up with a well-designed life. It will not look like you imagined it would. It will have unfolded around you, and you will struggle to wrap your head around how you ended up where you did.
You will have lost track of all the experiments and insights that led you to a fit.
And how do you apply it to the services and apps we design? The Browser Company has written that software can optimize for emotional needs rather than just functional needs. Jason Yuan has promoted the idea of “fidgetability” where, similar to a key fob or lighter, digital actions can be designed to feel satisfying. Rahul Vohra has talked about mak... See more
Andy Works • The World's Most Satisfying Checkbox | !Boring Software
Perhaps the key to happiness is neither the race nor the gold medal, but rather combining the right doses of excitement and tranquillity; but most of us tend to jump all the way from stress to boredom and back, remaining as discontented with one as with the other.
Yuval Noah Harari • Homo Deus
An impressive body of research now shows that trying to be happy by changing our life situations ultimately will not work. Why do life changes account for so little? Because of a very powerful force that psychologists call hedonic adaptation.
Sonja Lyubomirsky • The How of Happiness
Psychologists sometimes refer to this concept as the “hedonic treadmill”: the idea that we’re always working hard to change our life situation, but we actually never feel very different.