An intentional approach to digital technologies
““Technology is intrinsically neither good nor bad. The key is using it to support your goals and values, rather than letting it use you.””
Technological tools are merely tools and not the primal components of one's professional or personal life, although there is often the tendency to attach our identity to a tool, believing it may be the "end-all-be-all". Identifying with a tool may not be the best use of our sensitive identity. What if that tool will disappear in a couple of years? What if a new, more powerful, shiny tool is released on the market? Will you let yourself go, or will the sunk cost bias take the best of you? Will you explore new opportunities, or will the fear of the unknown freeze you to obsolescence? Employing technological tools in our lives begins with a seemingly simple principle: some things are in our control, some things are not, as the Stoics would put it. This is the dichotomy of control. Focusing on what it is that we can control (our purpose, what tools we use, how we use our tools) is all that is needed to take control of our existence, both personally and as part of the wider society.
So far, when referring to technological tools, I have not clarified what I mean by that. And I think it is relevant that I define the term "technological tools". Technological tools in this article refer to social media platforms, mobile or desktop apps, and anything that is in the technological paradigm and potentially usable mindlessly, merely to conform or just as a means of trying to fill voids in our inherently suffering human condition. The prominence of technological tools and apps in our lives in this historical era is unprecedented. Social media platforms compound the potential fear of missing out through the network and bandwagon effects, powerful psychological mechanisms driving our herd behavior online. Our need to conform, although varying across individuals due to personality factors (particularly agreeableness), comes from within. After all, human beings are social animals, as we often hear experts say. Human beings are social animals because they are not wired to exist in isolation, but rather in tribes, groups, families, and the wider society.
Attention management requires emotional management
Ideologies such as digital minimalism and essentialism have been gathering a significant amount of attention over the past couple of years. These are sort of opposite life philosophies rowing against the current technological societal paradigm of more. Authors Cal Newport and Greg McKeown strip down the areas of life to their core (Cal Newport, in Digital Minimalism, specifically presenting a more aware use of technology; Greg McKeown, in Essentialism, looking at life as a whole, of which tech is an integral part—although implicit in this theory). Nir Eyal, in his book Indistractable, affirms that time management requires pain management. It is the seemingly uncontrollable emotional reactions we give into that need to be mastered before anything else, in order to live a more present, distraction-free existence. All of these life and tech philosophies appear to have one thing in common: you need to start with why, your purpose, before figuring out how to approach your "relationship", so to speak, with technological tools. When there is a clear higher purpose established beforehand, you can then move forward at small increments to the multiple levels of resolution below the purpose. You may ask yourself: why do I want to use this tool? What aim does it serve (both practically and conspicuously)? How am I benefitting from the use of this tool? What would happen if I did not use this tool?
“Digital Minimalism: “A philosophy of technology use in which you focus your online time on a small number of carefully selected and optimized activities that strongly support things you value, and then happily miss out on everything else.””
Accumulating digital assets in place of physical goods still corresponds to hoarding, as far as I can tell. Digging into the deep reasons for our choices corresponds to separating the wheat from the chaff, as objectively as possible, before making intentional decisions that do not possess the chance for resentment to build up. In addition, choices can be reversed. Opinions can be changed. What does not work today may work tomorrow in different circumstances. Applying an intentional approach to digital technologies (and life) also requires considering letting go of the ego, seeking the truth rather than wanting to signal how right we are all the time. It is the recipe for the deep life, as professor Cal Newport calls it. The deep life is a life of intention, purpose, meaning, where digital tools and technology are carefully integrated into our existence rather than stuffed into our throats merely as a form of conformity.
““Imagine, more precisely, that you are so afraid that you will not allow yourself even to know what you want. Knowing would simultaneously mean hoping, and your hopes have been dashed. You have your reasons for maintaining your ignorance. You are afraid, perhaps, that there is nothing worth wanting; you are afraid that if you specify what you want precisely you will simultaneously discover (and all too clearly) what constitutes failure; you are afraid that failure is the most likely outcome; and, finally, you are afraid that if you define failure and then fail, you will know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was you that failed, and that it was your fault.””
If you find this article valuable, consider signing up for the Weekly Reflection: a newsletter about deep life, Notion, and human existence.
ADDITIONAL READINGS & SOURCES
Johnson, D. W., & Johnson, R. T. (2004). Cooperation and the Use of Technology. In Handbook of Research on Educational Communications and Technology (2nd ed.). Routledge.
Sun, H. (2013). A Longitudinal Study of Herd Behavior in the Adoption and Continued Use of Technology. MIS Quarterly, 37(4), 1013–1041.
Cheung, C. M. K., & Lee, M. K. O. (2010). A theoretical model of intentional social action in online social networks. Decision Support Systems, 49(1), 24–30. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dss.2009.12.006
Digital minimalism: choosing a focused life in a noisy world | Cal Newport (book)
Book summary: Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport | Samuelthomasdevies.com
Indistractable | Nir Eyal (book)
How to get more done and avoid distraction | The Knowledge Project x Nir Eyal
Essentialism: the Disciplined Pursuit of Less | Greg McKeown
My Guide to Digital Minimalism | Matt D'Avella
On the Shortness of Life—Life is long if you know how to use it | Seneca
A World Without Email by Cal Newport — Book Summary
A Very Short History of Digitization | Gil Press
