Take some time for yourself with soothing classical music from the mindful mix, the Science of

Happiness Podcast.

For the last 20 years I've dedicated my career to exploring the science of living a happier more meaningful life and I want

to share that science with you.

And just one thing, deep calm with Michael Mosley.

I want to help you tap in to your hidden relaxation response system and open the door to that

calmer place within. Listen on BBC Sounds.

I'm just about to press all your buttons. Do join me.

Well, be what the loser? I think that Gene Vincent was e14 or 15 on the Sid Cup jukebox that was my sole means of entertainment back in the early 60s, but although I may have

forgotten the exact numbers on the buttons, I still have a precise proprioceptive memory

of the feel of those buttons, the exact muscular pressure that had to be applied in

order to kick the mighty whirlits up into action.

And that is our topic for today, nothing more or less than the power of buttons.

I mean, how many of you already pressed today?

How about the button on your bedside radio, the start button on your kettle, the button to stop your bust at the right place, the button to adjust the office lighting, the buttons that you'll be pressing all day long on your mobile phone, your happy evening of button pressing on the television zapper. But despite such

ubiquity it's only now that we have a definitive cultural history of button pushing,

a book entitled Power Button, A History of Pleasure, Panic, and the Politics of Pushing.

And its author is Rachel Plotnick, who is Assistant Professor of Cinema and Media Studies

at Indiana University, Bloomington in the States and from where she now joins me.

Rachel, your research is focused mainly on those buttons that require a single push to create

an effect. Let's start off. Tell me a little bit about the origins of the button itself.

Absolutely. Well as I was researching this topic it became very difficult to figure out the answer to that question

...