The key ideas

The Power of Fun: How to Feel Alive Again

Catherine Price, 2021

A free evening, nothing to do, and your hand reaches for your phone almost by itself. Science journalist Catherine Price asked more than a thousand people about the most fun moments of their lives and discovered what true fun consists of. You will learn to distinguish it from its counterfeit, find your own sources of joy, and make room for them.

Who it is for

For anyone whose free evenings disappear into feeds and television series, and who cannot remember the last time they had real fun. And for anyone who sees fun as frivolous, something adults have no right to enjoy.

We are not problems to be solved. We are lives that want to be lived.

A free evening with nothing to do

Imagine a free evening ahead. No work, urgent tasks, or guests. Suddenly, you realize you have no idea how to spend it. Your hand reaches for your phone almost by itself, and a couple of hours later the evening is gone, with nothing in it to remember.

That is exactly what happened to Catherine Price, an American science journalist. She had already written a book about loosening the smartphone’s grip and had cut her own screen time. Time opened up, but she could not think what to spend it on. Life had been full of tasks and feeds for so long that Price had lost touch with what she herself wanted.

The Power of Fun grew out of that uncertainty. Price asked more than a thousand volunteers from different countries to describe the most fun moments of their lives and looked for what their stories shared. Her conclusion was unexpected. Fun is neither frivolity nor a reward adults receive when everything is done. In Price’s view, it is one of the main conditions for a healthy, fully lived life.

Next, you will learn what fun really consists of, how it differs from its counterfeit, and how to find your own sources of joy and make room for them. We begin on a Wednesday evening in Philadelphia.

Fun is a feeling, not an activity

Price asked herself a simple question: what have I long wanted to do but supposedly cannot find time for? The answer came quickly: learn to play guitar. She signed up for adult group lessons at a music studio in Philadelphia on Wednesday evenings.

She went there nervous and almost unprepared. She returned with a feeling she realized she had not experienced in years. That energy lasted through the whole following week. Later, Price understood that the guitar was not the main thing. What mattered was being among adults who had gathered for no reason except to have a good time.

That evening, along with hundreds of other people’s stories, led her to a definition. True Fun, she says, arises where three states come together at once.

• Playfulness. Ease and freedom: doing something for pleasure itself, without thinking about the outcome or how it looks to others.

• Connection. The feeling of sharing a moment with another person, or sometimes with an animal, with nature, or with the activity itself.

• Flow. Complete engagement, when an activity absorbs you so fully that you lose track of time.

Imagine three partly overlapping circles. Each is pleasant on its own, but true fun lives in the very middle, where all three meet. That is why, Price says, fun is a feeling, not an activity. The same party, game, or trip can bring you to life one day and leave you untouched another.

Another discovery surprised the author herself. People experienced almost all their most fun moments with others, even introverts. And the people they called fun were not the life of the party, but those who readily agreed to new things and made everyone around them feel at ease.

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About the author

Catherine Price is an American science journalist, author of the bestseller How to Break Up with Your Phone, about life with a smartphone, and founder of Screen/Life Balance.

All books by this author: Catherine Price

Terms from the book

  • Cortisol
  • IQ
  • Bueller
  • Flow
  • dementia
  • improvisation
  • True Fun: Price’s concept, not a scientific term: the feeling that arises when playfulness, connection, and flow come together at the same time.
  • Playfulness: In Price’s model, a sense of ease and freedom when you do something for pleasure itself without thinking about the outcome.
  • introverts: People who draw energy more from solitude than from lively company and tire more quickly of extensive socializing.
  • Fake Fun: Price’s term for activities sold as entertainment, such as social media or binge-watching, that leave you feeling empty and tired afterward.
  • fun audit: An exercise in Price’s book: examining your most fun memories to understand what specifically brings you joy.
  • fun magnets: Price’s term for the people, places, and activities that reliably bring true fun into your life.
  • fun factors: Price’s term for what different fun magnets have in common, such as music, movement, nature, or water.
  • SPARK: Price’s five-step plan: make Space, Pursue passions, Attract fun, Rebel, and Keep at it. The capitalized letters spell SPARK.

All terms

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