{"id":3551,"date":"2012-02-08T23:27:20","date_gmt":"2012-02-09T03:27:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/adam-jackson.net\/blog\/?p=3551"},"modified":"2012-02-08T23:27:20","modified_gmt":"2012-02-09T03:27:20","slug":"happiness-takes-a-little-magic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2012\/02\/08\/happiness-takes-a-little-magic\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2605 &#8220;HAPPINESS TAKES (A LITTLE) MAGIC&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/thewirecutter.com\/2012\/01\/happiness-takes-a-little-magic\/\">via The WireCutter<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>I owe my livelihood to technology and I love the raw capability it offers us as a tool, but I fear it a bit more than most people do. It&#8217;s a tool, but it&#8217;s not quite a hammer, because a hammer doesn&#8217;t seduce you into sitting around lonely in your underwear for 6 hours at a stretch clicking on youtube videos and refreshing Twitter. I fear technology because I fear that bad feeling I get after a three day XBox binge I go through every year around the holidays. I fear technology not because I think it&#8217;s evil, but because it&#8217;s too easy to start clicking and never stop, even if the stream of data starts to go from meaningful to useless after the top 5%.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Reading articles like this has become a common pastime of mine in order to re-affirm my choices lately in how I use technology. Reading an article like this from a blogger I grew up with and respect is even more powerful. Heck, Brian even commented on my blog once. He&#8217;s one of the good guys. This resonated a lot&#8230;<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Thoreau had to abandon work and friends to live simply, but he was not against it. He just had no choice at the time, given the technology at hand. \u00a0I think we\u2013and information workers like programmers, designers and writers especially\u2013are capable right now of living a fantastic life that marries the wild vitality that Thoreau experienced at Walden with the better parts of civilized living. This is a life that \u00a0Ted, if he were still in his cabin, could be envious of\u2013if we could only muster the discipline to get away from the noise.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Among the trees in my cabin in New Hampshire, my drive home each day is on an old beaten road with no traffic. I live among nature and work at my dream job. I&#8217;ve never been happier. Disconnecting has only strengthened that happiness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"via The WireCutter: I owe my livelihood to technology and I love the raw capability it offers us&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"csco_singular_sidebar":"","csco_page_header_type":"","csco_custom_appearance":"","csco_disable_excerpt_posts_layout":false,"csco_page_load_nextpost":"","csco_post_video_location":[],"csco_post_video_location_hash":"","csco_post_video_url":"","csco_post_video_bg_start_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_end_time":0,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-linked","cs-entry","cs-video-wrap"],"apple_news_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pb3IC4-Vh","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4093,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2014\/05\/23\/technology-the-film-her\/","url_meta":{"origin":3551,"position":0},"title":"Technology: The Film, &#8220;Her&#8221;","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"May 23, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Samantha: You know, I can feel the fear that you carry around and I wish there was... something I could do to help you let go of it because if you could, I don't think you'd feel so alone anymore. If you haven\u2019t seen this film yet, the post I\u2019m\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Technology&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Technology","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3352,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2011\/12\/13\/click-youre-gone\/","url_meta":{"origin":3551,"position":1},"title":"\u2605 &#8220;Click! You&#8217;re gone.&#8221;","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"December 13, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm a slow reader so it's a fear of mine that I'm the last Apple fan to complete the biography of Steve Jobs which was delivered to me via Kindle on its release date. Part of me is certain that many of us who didn't think twice about buying the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Ideas&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Ideas","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/ideas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"His First Visit","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm6.staticflickr.com\/5254\/5472313543_b1649d0a27_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm6.staticflickr.com\/5254\/5472313543_b1649d0a27_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm6.staticflickr.com\/5254\/5472313543_b1649d0a27_z.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1757,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2011\/02\/16\/required-technology-for-my-trip-to-india\/","url_meta":{"origin":3551,"position":2},"title":"\u2605 Required Technology for My Trip to India","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"February 16, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"My dearest and bestest friend, Parth Dhebar has asked me: \"Which devices are you taking with you?\" This was an actual reply to me and I was confused until he said \"India\" and specified his question as what technology equipment was coming with me. I'd like to share my \"list\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Technology&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Technology","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Canon G11","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4020\/4210957299_d992fca453_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4020\/4210957299_d992fca453_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4020\/4210957299_d992fca453_z.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":502,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2009\/09\/07\/a-personal-hypothesis-of-our-future\/","url_meta":{"origin":3551,"position":3},"title":"\u2605 A Personal Hypothesis of Our Future","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"September 7, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"The past 25 years of human evolution is something that completely blows me away! I'll try to keep this brief but I'll probably end up posting more than I should on the subject. Last week, I visited a woman who was in her 60s and wasn't a \"technology person\" but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Ideas&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Ideas","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/ideas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2149,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2011\/04\/07\/overcomplicating-technology\/","url_meta":{"origin":3551,"position":4},"title":"\u2605 Overcomplicating Technology","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"April 7, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"After reading this piece, I sent the following to my father: \"Dad, I'm glad to have picked a career where simplifying processes and navigating acronyms is something I'm good at and can get paid for. Although, it makes me think that only 1% of us actually get this stuff and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Linked&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Linked","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/linked\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3480,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2012\/01\/17\/fever-dream-of-a-guilt-ridden-gadget-reporter\/","url_meta":{"origin":3551,"position":5},"title":"\u2605 &#8220;Fever Dream of a Guilt-Ridden Gadget Reporter&#8221;","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"January 17, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Via Gizmodo: An executive in a really nice suit from an up-and-coming display company tells me they plan to ship a half a million units this year. I try to figure out how much that is in kilograms of rare earth metals, but I can't. Wolfram Alpha turns out to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Linked&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Linked","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/linked\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3551"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3551\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}