The life-changing magic of touching stuff

What It Covers

Ian Bogost, Atlantic writer and Washington University professor, joins The Vergecast to discuss his book *The Small Stuff*, arguing that modern life has stripped away everyday sensory contact with physical objects — and that reclaiming small tactile experiences, not abandoning technology, is the path to greater daily contentment.

Key Questions Answered

• •Dematerialization is systemic, not just digital: The erosion of physical engagement predates smartphones by decades. Sensor-activated restroom faucets, automated doors, and economic shifts away from home ownership all reduce tactile contact. Blaming iPhones alone misdiagnoses the problem and leads to ineffective solutions like digital detoxes rather than broader behavioral awareness.
• •Gratification lives in micro-sensory moments: Bogost identifies "gratification" as the cumulative pleasure of small physical encounters — the texture of cardstock tickets rubbing together, warm laundry from a dryer, gravel crunching underfoot. These moments individually feel trivial but collectively constitute a baseline sense of being present and embodied in the world.
• •Friction-maxing is the wrong remedy: Deliberately making life harder to restore sensory engagement is counterproductive. Bogost's actual prescription is to do what you already do, but with conscious attention. Ordering hardware via delivery app is fine — the opportunity is noticing the tactile experience of unpacking it, not forcing a trip to the store.
• •ASMR creators model a transferable attention practice: YouTube ASMR channels — including one creator who spends 20 minutes folding bath towels on camera — demonstrate focused, earnest attention to ordinary objects. The takeaway is not to replicate the videos but to apply that same quality of attention to your own towels, dishes, or any routine physical task.
• •AI accelerates dematerialization by removing the doing, not just the outcome: Writers, ceramicists, and other creators value the physical process of making — keystrokes, hand movements, material resistance — as much as the finished product. Delegating creation to AI eliminates the embodied experience itself, not merely the labor, which is a qualitatively different loss than prior automation.