The Craving for Intentionality

Using technology, not letting it use you

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The digital age creates a crossroad of convenience and congestion. None of us at this point are oblivious to this noise. How could we be? Endless distractions and apps demand our attention, they seek clicks just to show ads, and they are designed to make us spend more time than we want on information we will, in five minutes, forget.

I am not a pessimist though. I do believe that technology has an integral supportive benefit to a happy human flourishing. I think we mainly just got carried away, forgetting what the purpose of it all was.

It's this rapid imperceptible rate of progression that enabled universities sharing information in the 1970s to balloon into same-day online Amazon deliveries. We benefit from safer cars, unlimited information, daily deliveries, on-demand streaming, massive music libraries, all placed on handheld convenient computers. The human genome was mapped, medical knowledge has accelerated, ideas became freely shared with open-source, and yet we also notice the many downsides to these conveniences.

I could create a long list of the ways our phones, computers, and connectivity is detrimental, but I think it largely comes down to one issue.

Intentionality and authenticity are a rare and sought after commodity these days. Everyone craves it, even if they don’t realize it. Very few people seem to be satisfied, because they cannot find it. They can almost see drips and drabs of it when they get a long-written and intentional response on Reddit, for example. But this is so far from real authenticity and connection.

The desire for authentic conversation is very clearly demonstrated in the enormous growth of long-form intentional podcasting. Joe Rogan and Lex Friedmand are excellent examples of intentional and authentic conversationalists. The fact that they can sit and have 3+ hour long conversations with a variety of people, sharing thoughts, being vulnerable, and asking genuine questions is possibly unheard of

today. So people tune in to be a “part” of the conversation, albeit they only listen. However, I still feel, after listening to someone for 10-20 hours, you truly feel like you know them.

Mr. Beast is another excellent example of people compensating for the authenticity deficit. Traditionally people followed brands. Now people follow people they respect or want to emulate. Many people buy the Mr. Beast Feastable snacks because they trust him, enjoy seeing him do crazy things, and just genuinely like the guy. Another easy example of our society placing more importance on personality over a brand would be Elon Musk at Tesla. Those who adore Elon are willing to accept anything he does and follow his stock price religiously. But many people also deplore him, and boycott the entire Tesla brand simply due to the one man. People prefer to follow people these days because they crave that connection, friendship, and intentionality of their choices.

Obviously there is not a silver bullet, one-stop shop, single solution. It takes a lot of hard work, but also requires that space be made for it. What do I mean by this? Oxford dictionary says that intentionality is “the quality of mental states that consists in their being directed toward some object or state of affairs”. Put simply, intentionality is quality mental effort in a situation. That typically means that there are no distractions (i.e. phones, screens, noise), that your brain is engaged (i.e. your own thoughts, not just memes), and that you are focused on something else (i.e. a person, a hobby, or activity).

Honestly, staying intentional and authentic can be difficult. I believe it is challenging because we often do not have enough time alone with ourselves to even know what our thoughts are. We seldom sit in silence. Now, I am not suggesting we just sit in the void, but that we embrace a quiet morning to contemplate in a free-form way. Reading a book, turning pages, printing out the Paper Trail News, really focusing on making a perfect pour over coffee, are all ways to reach for the tangible world. I personally find walking around my neighborhood to be very helpful in letting me think clearly and authentically about problems in my life, or become more appreciative.

The metaphorical pandora’s technology box has already been opened. Society won’t go backwards, so I don’t expect you to either. Instead, the question should be about how we can use the best parts of technology to make us more intentional? I have a few examples of how intentional tech is good.

1. Buying a book you can’t find in local stores on Amazon
2. Carrying a Kindle with you
3. Harnessing ChatGPT to discover hobbies based on what you already like
4. Using WordPress to write a blog on a topic you are interested in
5. Tuning your guitar with a phone app
6. Finding groups near you with an app like MeetUp
7. Navigating on a hike with Google Maps, or just get lost and enjoy the thrill
8. Printing online news articles out for intentional morning reading using Paper Trail News. Shameless plug

Each of these are intentional use of computers, letting them help but not consume us. Technology is a means, not an end.

There are ways we can mitigate overuse of our phones. I’d recommend you take a look into the r/offlineday subreddit, a movement to spend at least one day a month without your phone at all. Don’t keep your phone next to you while you sleep, but across the room for your alarm. And make sure you add breaks in your day, where you intentionally try not to check your phone. Try 60-90 minute periods.

In my opinion, the future is bright. But it is on us to improve our own lives and become more intentional, become more authentic. To leave you with a quote I enjoyed from Noam Chomsky, “Optimism is a strategy for making a better future. Because unless you believe that the future can be better, you are unlikely to step up and take responsibility for making it so.”

Thank you for reading!

-- Sean @ Paper Trail News

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