The Score by C. Thi Nguyen is my personal top read of early 2026. It's about the misuse of metrics — how numbers start shaping our reality rather than reflecting it.
Here's an example. Your kid has a tablet (parents will get this). You read an article: "Children are spending too much time in front of screens." So you start limiting screen time. Makes sense, right?
But wait. The author asks an uncomfortable question: what exactly is "screen time"? His son uses his tablet to mindlessly watch unboxing videos, study how black holes work, and learn to play chess. The category "screen time" lumps all of this together. It's already decided for you: what matters is the delivery mechanism, not what's actually happening through it.
So now you're limiting chess and experimental physics. Because the metric said screens are bad. You never decided screens were harmful — that was handed to you. The metric created the value judgment. Not you.
The author calls this value capture. A tracking system makes progress easy to measure — and in doing so, replaces your actual values with the feeling of being in control. Numbers give you clarity, and clarity is addictive. That feeling of clarity is your brain's signal to stop questioning the model.
But here's the thing: we don't actually want clarity for its own sake. We want our kids to be happy — not just in the moment with a tablet, but years down the road.
And if you're thinking "well, I'm not a kid with a tablet" — fair enough.
Just swap "screen time" for any metric in your own life. Daily step count. Calories. Hours of sleep. Books read per year. Follower count. Salary.
Every single one has quietly decided for you what counts as important. Ten thousand steps and you're supposedly healthy. Twenty books a year and you're supposedly growing. Feel the tension? You accepted that equation because numbers are convenient.
Metrics don't measure reality. They construct it. And the more confidently you stare at your tracker, the less likely you are to ask the one question that actually matters: is this even what I wanted to be counting?
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