Lifehacking is just another way to make us work more. Photo by Eric Vidal/Reuters Buzzwords that emerge from Silicon Valley are usually vapid and imprecise.
(Let's just agree that “the sharing economy” must become “user-centric,” OK?) Lifehacking, in contrast, has always had provocative, even emancipating connotations. Coined by the technology journalist Danny O'Brien in 2004, the term life hack quickly became staple of techspeak. In 2011 life hack—defined as “a strategy or technique adopted in order to manage one’s time and daily activities in a more efficient way”—was even added to Oxford Dictionaries Online, a first step toward mainstream recognition. Moonie on couch. Mookieeyes. Goal.