Why Touching Stuff Actually Matters
Ian Bogost argues that we've lost sensory contact with the physical world through dematerialization—the replacement of tangible objects with digital equivalents. This loss of small, tactile experiences diminishes our sense of gratification and connection. Rather than rejecting technology, Bogost advocates finding sensory pleasure in everyday objects and digital experiences alike, treating the world as something to commune with rather than optimize away.
The Problem of Dematerialization
What We Lost: The Ticket Example
Physical tickets once required active engagement—picking them up, worrying about losing them, feeling their texture, checking your pocket repeatedly. Now a QR code on your phone eliminates that friction but also removes the sensory experience, the anticipation ritual, and the physical memento of the event. This shift from tangible to digital is convenient but strips away layers of small gratifications that accumulated throughout daily life.
Dematerialization Is Everywhere, Not Just Phones
The loss of sensory contact extends far beyond smartphones. Sensor-activated faucets, automatic doors, and economic incentives against owning things all contribute to dematerialization. These systems predate or exist independent of computers and AI, suggesting the problem is systemic and historical rather than solely technological.
The Accumulation of Small Losses
Each individual loss—a ticket, a faucet handle, a door knob—feels insignificant. But collectively, these small sensory experiences that once accumulated throughout the day created a baseline of contentment. As they disappeared everywhere simultaneously, people felt disconnected from reality without understanding why.
Gratification and Communion with Objects
Gratification: The Pleasure of Sensory Contact
Bogost uses the term 'gratification' to describe the small, consistent pleasure derived from physical interaction with objects—the texture of tickets rubbing together, the feel of a water bottle's rubber base, the warmth of towels from the dryer. This is distinct from major life accomplishments; it's the drip-by-drip accumulation of sensory pleasure available constantly.
Treating Objects as Friends and Characters
Rather than viewing objects as mere tools, Bogost encourages thinking of them as characters or friends with whom you have a relationship. This reframes mundane interactions—folding towels, holding a water bottle, pressing a doorbell—as opportunities for respect, curiosity, and acceptance of being in the world with other entities.
The Plastic Film Phenomenon
Peeling protective plastic film off new products is universally delightful, yet people rarely mention it unprompted. When Bogost brings it up, others immediately recognize and validate the experience. This gap between the genuine pleasure and its social invisibility reveals how small sensory joys have been culturally devalued.
Technology Is Not the Enemy
Smartphones Deliver Gratification Too
A smartphone's smooth glass, textured case, weight in the pocket, and the act of rummaging for it all provide sensory pleasure. The problem is not technology itself but the narrowing of attention—people have mistaken their phone for the only interesting thing available, when gratification is equally available in water bottles, gravel, desk surfaces, and countless other objects.
Friction-Maxxing Is the Wrong Solution
Intentionally making life harder to resist convenience is not Bogost's argument. Instead, he advocates living the life you already live but with greater attention to sensory detail. The goal is not to reject delivery apps or washing machines but to remain engaged with the physical world even as technology makes tasks easier.
ASMR as a Model for Attention
ASMR creators who spend 20 minutes folding towels or tapping bottles model focused, earnest attention to ordinary objects. The point is not to mimic their extreme dedication but to recognize that the towels you already own—warm from the dryer, plush, textured—offer the same opportunity for sensory communion in your daily life.
Digital Spaces and Vicarious Gratification
Gratification Exists in Digital Spaces Too
Even algorithmically-driven social media can deliver a form of gratification. Watching someone spread tomato sauce on a marble counter, even if staged for the algorithm, reminds you that tomato sauce exists. This vicarious gratification can orient you toward the physical experience of cooking and eating, bridging digital and material worlds.
You Cannot Escape Being Physical
No amount of digital immersion can fully extract you from your body and the physical world. You still eat, cook, order food, and use the utensils delivered with it. The internet's pull was never complete; it was always working within the constraints of embodied life.
The Monetization Paradox
Platforms ruthlessly optimize content for algorithms and monetization, creating dematerialized experiences designed to extract attention and money. Yet even within this system, moments of genuine sensory connection persist—the challenge is recognizing and valuing them despite the system's intent.
AI and the Experience of Creation
AI Removes the Experience, Not Just the Outcome
Writers, artists, and creators value the moment-to-moment experience of their work—the feel of keys under fingers, ideas moving through fingertips—as much as or more than the final product. AI that automates these tasks removes not just labor but the sensory and emotional experience of being human in a particular way.
Automation Never Returns Leisure Time
Historically, automation promises freed time but delivers more work instead, usually of lower quality. The pattern suggests that AI will not grant us leisure to enjoy sensory experiences but will instead fill the void with new, often worse demands on our attention.
The Choice Between Convenience and Experience
Everyone will soon face a choice: accept AI doing work you don't want to do in exchange for losing the ability to do work you do want to do. This trade-off has no universal answer and will force individuals to consciously decide what kinds of experiences matter to them.
Happiness vs. Gratification
We've Overvalued Happiness and Undervalued Gratification
Culture has persuaded us that only major accomplishments and big-picture happiness matter, causing us to sacrifice small sensory pleasures in pursuit of distant goals. This framing devalues the constant, available pleasure of direct connection with the world.
The Surplus of Sensory Encounter
Rather than pursuing one grand accomplishment, Bogost advocates for a surplus of small sensory encounters—the drip-by-drip accumulation of gratification available through communion with ordinary objects. This approach is always accessible, unlike major life achievements.
The Doorbell: Old and New Worlds Together
Integrating Technology Without Sacrificing Experience
Bogost wired five computers to create a doorbell system that preserves the tactile experience of a traditional button and the resonant sound appropriate to his 1909 house, while adding modern security via hidden cameras and local storage. This demonstrates that technology can serve sensory experience rather than replace it.
Notable quotes
We once got to take direct control over all sorts of objects. — Ian Bogost
That sense of delight, which I call gratification, is actually much more important than we've given it credit for. — Ian Bogost
I'm not saying change your life. I'm actually saying you can live the life you're already living. — Ian Bogost
Action items
- Identify one everyday object you interact with regularly (water bottle, towel, door handle, etc.) and spend a moment noticing its texture, weight, temperature, and how it feels in your hand.
- When performing a routine task, pause and pay deliberate attention to the sensory details—the sound, feel, or smell—rather than rushing through it.
- Watch one ASMR video focused on ordinary objects to observe how creators model focused attention, then apply that same attention to your own possessions.
- Audit your home or workspace for dematerialized interactions (sensor faucets, automatic doors, app-based systems) and consider whether any could be replaced with tactile alternatives that preserve sensory engagement.
- Notice moments of genuine pleasure in small things—peeling plastic film, folding warm towels, the heft of your phone—and acknowledge them without embarrassment.