Hacking Happiness: Why Your Personal Data Counts and How Tracking It Can Change the World - Hardcover

John Havens

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0399165312 ISBN 13: 9780399165313

Publisher: Tarcher, 2014

Synopsis

In HACKING HAPPINESS, futurist and contributing Mashable writer John C. Havens introduces you to your quantified self your digital identity represented by gigabytes of data produced from tracking your activities on your smartphone and computer. Harvested by megacorporations such as Google, Facebook, and Amazon, Havens argues that companies gather this data because of its immense economic value, encouraging a culture of sharing as they hoard the information based on our lives for private monetary gain.

But there's an alternative to this digital dystopia. Emerging technologies will help us reclaim this valuable data for ourselves, so we can directly profit from the insights linked to our quantified selves. At the same time, sensors in smartphones and wearable devices will help us track our emotions to improve our well-being based on the science of positive psychology. Havens proposes that these trends will lead to new economic policies that redefine the meaning of wealth, allowing governments to create policy focused on purpose rather than productivity.

An issues book highlighting the benefits of an examined life in the digital world, this timely work takes the trepidation out of the technological renaissance and illustrates how the fruits of the Information Age can improve our lives for a happier humanity.

About this title

Review

"The book certainly opens up an important conversation about how individuals can, and should, manage their data in an age of rapid advancements in personal technology. MashableandGuardiancontributing writer Havens provides a detailed defense of how developing technologies in augmented reality and wearable devices can increase happiness...An optimistic vision of how new technologies can be reimagined to increase productivity and personal growth."
Kirkus Reviews
More than any time in human history, we have access to mountains of data about ourselves. Hacking H(app)iness is the first book to show us how to leverage this information as a path to happiness, rather than a source of misery.
Adam Grant, New York Times-bestselling author of Give and Take
"Hacking H(app)iness is a mind boggling and optimistic vision of how new technologies can be reimagined to increase productivity and personal growth and you don't have to be a geek to like it."
Michael Port, New York Times-bestselling author of The Think Big Manifesto
"In Hacking H(app)iness, I was excited to find a discussion of psychology and technology that extends far beyond a self-improvement guide. Havens weaves together trends related to personal data with futurist scenarios and poignant details from his own life to illustrate how data can help us hold ourselves accountable to others. I recommend this to anyone trying to boost the wellbeing of individuals and communities.
Margie Morris, senior researcher at Intel
In Hacking H(app)iness, John C. Havens makes the persuasive case that a key to happiness in the digital age is being able to control and leverage your personal data for your own benefit. It s a must-read for anyone who wants to better understand the interplay of economics, innovation, and the rising personal data sector, and how you can make better, smarter decisions when you re in charge of your own data.
Shane Green, Co-Founder and CEO of Personal
I ve met and spoken with literally hundreds of people about aging and the consequences of isolation. Most of them knew the space; many of them understood the emotional impacts, but only John felt it. He intuitively understood how our societal focus on physical health was obscuring our view on emotional health.
Iggy Fanlo, Co-Founder and CEO of Live!y
The unexamined digital life is walking along an unstable ledge of happiness, in an era of digital exuberance. John C. Havens s Hacking H(app)iness is the balancing stick that allows us to synthesize and leverage technology by understanding the evolutionary value of one s digital blueprint, so that well-being and happiness can emerge.
Judy Martin, founder of WorkLifeNation.com and contributor for Forbes and NPR
John C. Havens gives us an illuminating examination of how emerging technology can be harnessed to promote individual, community, corporate, and global happiness. As one who studies intrinsic motivation, achievement and happiness, I enjoyed John's rare emphasis on altruistically serving others as a path toward greater happiness and health.
John Mark Froiland, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology, University of Northern Colorado
In the 20th century, we made great progress in terms of our material wealth, but we re not really any happier. In this insightful book, John Havens shows us how the new century will bring us opportunities to improve our general well being. Rather than keeping up with the Joneses, he explains how we can use technology to actually improve our lives. It is a truly remarkable work.
Greg Satell, contributing writer for Forbes
John Havens has written a comprehensive guide through our complicated digital lives, carefully examining the benefits of the data-driven pursuit of happiness through the lens of an enlightened idealist. A must-read for anyone interested in a humane future of connectivity.
Tim Leberecht, chief marketing officer of NBBJ
John Havens is leading the charge to change the way we talk and think about digital consumer technology. Rather than simply asking whether the latest gadget is faster or has more features, John encourages us to ask such questions as Will this make me happier? And it s not just a rhetorical ploy; he wants us to think through the question sincerely. John avoids the kneejerk conclusions of both the techno-fanboy and neo-Luddite camps to the occasional irritation of both which makes his work all the more important.
Brian Wassom, Augmented Reality Law Expert, Partner at Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP
This book shows us that happiness can be an active pursuit a journey filled with data and optimization, with satisfaction as the ultimate goal. Just reading this book made me happier.
Ari Meisel, author of Less Doing, More Living, founder of The Art of Less Doing, and Ironman Triathlete
Hacking Happiness covers a whole range of technologies that are all emerging and looks at them from a positive perspective to see how can they help people, our communities, and the world. John s approach is refreshing and adds new perspectives to consider how we as a society make considerations about what technologies to adopt and how they might fit together for the benefit of the whole.
Kaliya, aka Identity Woman
In Hacking H(app)iness, John C. Havens proves the importance of measuring our lives to identify our purpose versus just increasing profits or productivity. By showing how altruistic actions can increase happiness, Havens also provides a roadmap to scaling (or hacking) how the world perceives value, where currency will be based on compassion versus capitalism.
Aaron Hurst, author of The Purpose Economy and CEO ofImperative"

About the Author

John C. Havens is a contributing writer for Mashable, The Guardian, and The Huffington Post. He is the Founder of The H(app)athon Project, a non-profit organization, Connecting Happiness to Action one phone, one heart, and one city at a time” through the use of interactive, sensor-based smartphone surveys. A former EVP for a top-ten global PR firm, he has counseled clients like Gillette, HP, and Merck on emerging and social media issues, and has been quoted on issues relating to technology, business, and well being by USA Today, Fast Company, BBC News, Mashable,The Guardian, The Huffington Post, Forbes, INC, PR Week, andAdvertising Age. Havens was also a professional actor in New York City for over 15 years, appearing in principal roles on Broadway, television, and film.

John C. Havens is a contributing writer for Mashable, The Guardian, and The Huffington Post. He is the Founder of The H(app)athon Project, a non-profit organization, “Connecting Happiness to Action one phone, one heart, and one city at a time” through the use of interactive, sensor-based smartphone surveys. A former EVP for a top-ten global PR firm, he has counseled clients like Gillette, HP, and Merck on emerging and social media issues, and has been quoted on issues relating to technology, business, and well being by USA Today, Fast Company, BBC News, Mashable,The Guardian, The Huffington Post, Forbes, INC, PR Week, andAdvertising Age. Havens was also a professional actor in New York City for over 15 years, appearing in principal roles on Broadway, television, and film.

Edition details

• Publisher: Tarcher
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0399165312
• ISBN 13: 9780399165313
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 304