Convenience is the thief of pleasure
(painting by Luchita Hurtado)
Katy Bowman is an author and biomechanist who I first interviewed a few years ago. She espouses the idea that, just as we need a wide array of nutrients from our diet, so too do we need to move our bodies in a wide variety of ways. The more modern conveniences fill our lives, she says, the less we move the way our bodies were designed to. This manifests in everything from the micro—the automated car door means we don’t lift up our arm to slam it shut—to the macro—the knowledge economy jobs that mean we don’t have to get up from our desks to do … anything.
Once I learned this a few years ago, I felt like I couldn’t un-see it. I see it in the way we cram an hour of pain-filled, high intensity exercise rather than spending two and a half hours leisurely walking to and from work everyday (that would be more movement, after all). The way westerners/Europeans invented seated toilets, thereby robbing ourselves of our ability to perform one of our bodies most fundamental postures. The way we buy carrot sticks wrapped in plastic even though they taste horrible compared to a carrot you have to actually wash, and peel, and cut (all of which requires movement, by the way!) before eating it. The way we hire people to clean our homes even though there is no better exercise or sense of satisfaction than that which you get from a day of scrubbing.
We do all this, of course, in the name of saving time. Time that we can use on other things, like progressing in our careers or side hustles, watching Netflix, raising high-achieving children, and doing expensive 45 minute exercise classes. More or less to progress in the capitalist game we’re all obliged to play. But I’ve been thinking recently that Bowman’s theory could be taken one step further: that time-saving conveniences don’t just rob us of the movement our body craves, but of pleasure, too.
The curious thing about pleasure is we often associate it with bad or frivolous things: Hedonism, wealth, selfishness, addiction, gluttony. We assume people who lead pleasure-centric lives are, at some level, corrupt or selfish or shallow or unambitious.
But I think we have this all wrong. That true pleasure—the kind that isn’t aspirational or status-bearing or materialistic or a form of sinister escapism—can be nourishing, restorative, generous. In other words, nothing but really good for us.
Summer is the prime time to revel in the pleasures that convenience regularly robs us of. In London, where it doesn’t get dark until 10pm, the long days offer an expanse of hours that make work life balance seem easily attainable. I don’t really want to do anything other than read a book in the park with a beer, and so I don’t. I don’t need to save time—in fact, at the moment it feels like I have lots of time. To work on random projects, to swim in the ladies pond or laze in the park, to make extremely over the top summer salads with whatever is in season.
With the exception of moving flats and going on a holiday next week, I have zero social or ambitious plans for this summer. It feels great. I know it’s not particularly novel these days to endorse the idea of being less busy, but I’m gonna say it anyway: Make no plans. Spend your day doing exactly what feels appealing to you on that day. Make time for pleasure. It’s a quietly radical act.
Things I wrote in my first six (!) weeks at Skift
ICYMI, I started a new job last month (more on that here). I’ve really been enjoying writing on my beat so far and spending my days reporting the stories below.
I wrote about why Unesco's recent choice not to add Venice to its list of endangered World Heritage Sites is political and possibly misguided. (This was really fascinating to report.)
It’s summer so everyone is writing about overtourism. I wrote about how this is an issue that’s way more complex than the media often allows. In other words I’m giving you permission to feel less guilty about going on vacation.
In June, the executive committee of one of the largest travel companies in the world (Carnival Corp.) pled guilty before a judge to six counts of violating probation for environmental crimes. It was the third time they’ve been tried for the same crime in 20 years. But will cruisers ever care about the environmental impact of their beloved vacation? Eh.
If you are a certain type of person, I’m guessing a lot of your hip friends are telling you about their recent amazing vacation in Tbilisi, Georgia. Turns out, Russia is using Georgia’s strikingly successful tourism industry as a way to issue low-key sanctions. (Turns out covering tourism often means writing about geopolitics.)
The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam is one of the city’s most popular (and crowded) tourist attractions. Two years ago, they did something radical: after record-breaking ticket sales, they admitted welcome an ever-greater number of visitors was unwise.
Did you know that the United States of America has a marketing department? But under Trump, “Brand USA”—and the very concept of marketing America to welcome foreigners—is floundering.
Also…
I’ve also been on TV a bit recently! I am loath to admit this because I’m afraid it makes me a clinical narcissist but … I enjoy going on live television. I went on Bloomberg (29:45) to talk about the US-China trade war’s effect on tourism and Sky News in the UK to talk about Airbnb.
One more thing: A lot of people send me emails asking how they can become a journalist. So I wrote down everything I’ve learned (the good, the bad, the ugly) in one place for efficiency. Feel free to forward it to journalism-inclined graduates in your life.
Things I read
On the practical and existential work of living day-to-day life in the age of climate despair. This piece ends up being more beautiful than depressing. [Australian National University]
I spent two weeks in New York this month and, well, Brexit aside, London is objectively better than New York. There—I said it. [Bloomberg]
Speaking of New York, buying lunch there is insane. I enjoyed this economics-driven breakdown of how the Manhattan lunch counter has changed in the age of $15 Sweetgreen salads. [The Margins]
I think of investigative reporting as a kind of superhero-like power. If that’s the case, Julie K Brown is Wonder Woman. [NYT]
This story about the Israel-sponsored Birthright trip, its flawed presentation of Palestine, and the objections of some Jewish millennials to it is fascinating. [NYT]
The gripping tale of rich Brooklynites and their insanely competitive and delusional pre-school drama. (This makes me never want to procreate.) [NY Magazine]
The Malaysia Airlines flight MH-370 mystery gets the William Langewiesche treatment. [The Atlantic]
Things to listen to
The music critic-turned-investigative reporter who uncovered (and has been doggedly covering since) the R Kelly story twenty years ago. Jaw dropping stuff. [Fresh Air]
Everyone who uses Facebook/Whatsapp/Instagram (so, all of us) should be following Casey Newton’s reporting on Facebook. [Fresh Air]
Brene Brown in conversation with Marc Maron. [WTF with Marc Maron]
The tonally-perfect David Remnick interviews AOC on the incredible, unimaginable year she’s had. [New Yorker Radio Hour]
Austin Kleon is a huge creative inspiration to me—I was so inspired by his latest book that I bought a set of watercolor paints—so I enjoyed hearing him muse on why creativity as a verb, not a noun. [Good Life Project]
Lifestyle endorsement
Follow my friend Katherine’s Instagram account devoted to the joys of second-hand shopping, The Junkyard Journals. Katherine taught me all that I know about thrifting when we used to trawl the thrift stores of the valley as high schoolers with freshly-minted drivers licenses. Now, she buys only second hand clothes for herself and her family and has really great ideas about how to integrate this habit in your own life.
Word soup
"When it’s done well then it can feel like you’re in the only place you want to be in the world at that moment. And the very best pubs are timeless places in which that moment seems like it could last forever." —In search of the perfect pub
“Daisy, someone who insists on the perfect conditions to make art isn’t an artist. They’re an asshole.” —Taylor Jenkins Reid
Thanks for reading. If you enjoy this newsletter, you can help me immensely by getting more people to subscribe to it. Forward it to your friends! Tell your social media herd! You can find the subscribe page here.