The Importance Of Intention When It Comes To Technology
Are you using technology, or is it using you?
In the latter half of 2022, there were a lot of people communicating their intentions on Twitter going forward given the change in ownership at the popular social media platform.
This was a good development!
Too often today we use these platforms without intention. When you operate without intention, you are most vulnerable to being used by the technology, instead of the other way around.
This is reminiscent of that old saying, that if you are not sure who the fool in the room is, then it probably is you. Or this quote from one of America’s most successful business individuals:
Indeed, if you aren’t certain that you understand and can value your business far better than Mr. Market, you don’t belong in the game. As they say in poker, “If you’ve been in the game 30 minutes and you don’t know who the patsy is, you’re the patsy.”
— Warren Buffett
It is a rewarding practice to evaluate your use of any technology — like social media platforms, for example — and define clearly how you are going to use these technologies to better serve you and your interests.
It is not too late to do this even after you've been using a technology for a long time.
If you are interested in going deeper on this kind of audit in your life, read some of Cal Newport's works. Newport goes deep on the dangers of using technology without clearly defined intentions in most of his books.
Time to practice what I preached.
As for my own intentions with Twitter, in particular:
Use as a tool to keep up with industry news, leadership and mindset coaches, and professional contacts in cartography, GIS, and technology. It remains valuable to me in this regard currently.
Use only on a desktop computer.
Avoid opening any new social media accounts on other platforms as a replacement for Twitter. If there ends up being no value on Twitter anymore, it would be more valuable to have one less social media account.
What kind of rules and intentions are you setting for yourself when it comes to social media? How are you using the technology?