Intentionality

Intentionality. This is defined as "the fact of being deliberate or purposive." In philosophy, it is often used in discussions on the quality of mental states. For me, it expresses my desire for the coming year. I know that we are already almost halfway into February so it is a little late to be discussing and exploring a "New Year's Resolution" or a "word of the year;" but I always hem and haw and over think and then life happens so here I am.

Many of my thoughts over the last year or so, when not thinking about work or family and the other aspects of daily life, have been focused on the ubiquitousness of technology, particularly of social media and smartphones, and its impact on society; on individual thought and conversation; and on my life, thinking, and conversations. I've explored the concept on this old blog here from the lens of existentialism, and I've been listening recently to several interviews with Cal Newport, a computer scientist who is pushing the concept of "digital minimalism," both of which influence and inform my thinking here.

In this thinking, I keep coming back to the concept of Intentionality. The threat of social media, and particularly of smartphones, that I believe have become increasingly evident over the last few years is the removal of freedom. Algorithms specially designed to take advantage of our brain's natural circuitry reduces so much of our freedom in using those devices. The notifications, the easy tugs that results in quick dopamine hits to our neurobiology, the constant presence - all create several illusions. The illusion of freedom and the illusion of conversations seems the strongest. Smartphones, and the apps on them, are designed to keep our attention. Their constant presence results in us not questioning the value we get out of them. We devote hours each day looking at them and often get little to show for them. Certainly, some of that may be required for work purposes; but so much of what we use these devices reduces value in our life. I feel this conflict and struggle within me each and every day.

Newport discusses this in an interview when mentioning Thoreau's Walden. Newport correctly notes, I think, that Walden isn't really a book about nature; it's a book about economics. What Thoreau establishes is that when you focus solely on what you need, you find that you do not need to work nearly as much to provide for those needs, thus leaving you more time to enjoy certain aspects of life - for Thoreau, nature. What Thoreau also notes is that we often assume that some new piece of technology will make us more efficient, allowing us to get more work done; but we fail to realize the ancillary effects of that technology. As it makes us think more and more about acquiring, it blurs the lines between needs and wants, and thus it is highly questionable, from an economic perspective, whether those trade offs make sense.

I don't consider myself a Luddite when it comes to technology - I am writing this on a blog using a Chromebook for crying out loud; I have a smartphone, tablet, and am comfortable using technology and many different forms of social media. But the last couple years I have become increasingly concerned with its impact. The first started a couple years ago when I noticed how much less I was reading. I rededicated myself last year and increased my reading. It was a realization of how I wish to spend my time. But my nagging doubts are still there.

That constant presence of a smartphone, tethering myself to it; repeatedly checking email and messages, searching for whatever random thought crossed my mind, reading news on it - it is like Alice tumbling down the rabbit hole away from the world in which I wish to live to one where everything is just a little bit duller.

It is a question of value. My email and messages, news - those things have value, but it is limited. There is more value in the book I am reading; in the thoughts I wish to write about and explore; in the moments of coloring or playing with my daughter. I know what my values are; the smartphone, or at least my use of it at times, has impacted my ability to seek out and live those values. You combine that with the threat smartphones pose to freedom and authenticity (major underpinnings of my philosophical outlook on life), and it's easy to see where change should happen if I desire.

I am not in a position where I can't have a smartphone. For one, I'm still paying for the one I have. But it's my only phone, and whether I like it or not, the progression of my career and industry has unfortunately necessitated the need for some level of constant, reliable access to email. That ship has sailed.

All of which brings me back to that word - Intentionality. Being deliberate. Purposeful. I feel that so much of the use of a smartphone is unintentional - it just happens because its close, always there, and easy. But viewing this through the lens of the economic argument made by Thoreau, it is easy to see where value is lost. I lose the freedom to choose deeper intellectual ventures, due to ease and convenience. I lose the opportunity for dialogue and discussion, because I mistake the constant connection with conversation (this, I think, is the most dangerous; we so desire human connection, that we have mistakenly believed that the devices connect us, but fail to see how its not nearly enough - there is no real conversation with others). I lose.

I want to be intentional this year. I want to be present, each day, more. I want to read more. I want to write more. I want more value.

So it begins.

"It's not enough to be busy; so are the ants. The question is: what are we busy about?" - Henry David Thoreau

"To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

"As Williams James observed, we must reflect that, when we reach the end of our days, our life experience will equal what we have paid attention to, whether by choice or default. We are at risk, without quite fully realizing it, of living lives that are less our own than we imagine." - Tim Wu