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

An issues book highlighting the benefits of an examined life in the digital world, this timely work illustrates how controlling and utilizing insights from our personal data can result in a happier humanity. In Hacking H(app)iness , futurist and contributingMashablewriter 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. Harvens argues that megacorporations such as Google, Facebook, and Amazon gather this data because of its immense economic value, encouraging a culture of 'sharing' while simultaneously hoarding information based on our lives, for private monetary gain. While Edward Snowden's revelations exposed the depths of government surveillance on our private affairs, Hacking H(app)iness points out the dangers of losing our digital identities to the highest bidder. 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, using 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 illustrates how controlling and utilizing insights from our personal data can result in a happier humanity.