Let’s look at the internet as an example. It promises to help us make better use of our time, while simultaneously exposing us to vastly more potential uses for our time—so that the very tool we’re using to get the most out of life makes us feel as though we’re missing out on even more of it.

To learn more about making the most of our radically finite lives in a world of impossible demands, relentless distraction and political insanity, check Four Thousand Weeks, the latest book by Oliver Burkeman.