Are you using technology to advance your priorities — or is technology using you?
Less autopilot. More intention.
The slot machine in your pocket is designed to capture and hold your attention.
Understanding how is not paranoia. It's literacy.
You pay for the "free" platforms you use every day with your time and attention. Your attention is sold to advertisers, and the algorithms are optimized to keep you scrolling indefinitely. The longer you stay, the more they earn.
None of this requires a conspiracy. It simply requires that you don't think about it. The entire system depends on you operating on autopilot by default.
You habitually pick up your phone to check the time. Next thing you know, you've spent an hour on "social" media, doomscrolling content from people you don't know while consuming hundreds of ads. Pulling you away from higher priorities, relationships, and meaning. Ultimately, your life is what you spend your time on.
The algorithms keep getting smarter, faster, and more personal. AI generates content tailored to keep you engaged, predicts your behavior before you act on it, and makes decisions about you that you'll never see. Over half the content you encounter online is now AI-generated. This isn't coming. It's here.
Consuming the internet on autopilot doesn't just waste your time. The research shows it is actively changing your brain and how you feel. Your ability to focus is declining. Measurable intelligence is declining for the first time in a century. Passive "social" media use is associated with increased loneliness, anxiety, and lower well-being. It erodes your sleep, real human relationships, and your ability to sit with your thoughts for 5 minutes.
Most scrolling leaves you feeling worse, not better. The next time you pick up your "smart"phone, picture an adult pacifier.
You don't need to go off the grid. You do need to stop and consider whether you are using tech on your terms or tech is using you.
The scale of our relationship with technology is hard to feel in the moment. The numbers make it harder to ignore.
Your Life on Screens
What You're Actually Seeing
The Kids
Your Brain
Your Data
None of these numbers are inevitable. Every one of them is the result of choices — most of which were made for you, not by you. The first step is seeing the pattern. The next step is deciding what to do about it.
Knowing the problem is step one. Here are concrete, proven changes you can make
The "smart"phone is the single biggest source of compulsive, unintentional tech use. The next time you look at your "smart"phone, picture an adult pacifier. If a basic "dumb"phone is too extreme for you, turn your pocket slot machine back into a phone — calls, texts, maps, music, and the camera. Everything else can wait until you're at a computer and choosing to engage.
Try it for one weekFor a generation, the internet lived in one room of the house. You went to it on purpose and left when you were done. Designate one place for laptop and internet use. Keep screens out of bedrooms. The research on sleep, anxiety, and focus all points in the same direction: physical separation from screens works.
Choose your roomIf you're not ready to quit entirely, start here. The harm of social media is overwhelmingly tied to the phone — the bottomless scroll in bed, in line, at lunch. Moving social media to your computer transforms it from a compulsion into a choice. You can still use it. You'll just use it less, and on your terms.
Delete the apps todayTools like Cold Turkey, Freedom, or one sec put a barrier between impulse and action. Block or limit the algorithm driven internet. Add a delay before opening certain apps. Use a timer to turn off your internet at least an hour before bed. The research on habit formation is clear: small amounts of friction dramatically reduce unwanted behavior. You're not relying on willpower — you're designing your environment.
Install a blocker this weekRun towards deeper real relationships. The evidence linking heavy, passive, social media use to increased anxiety, decreased attention, and reduced life satisfaction is strong and growing.
Delete your accountsAlgorithms decide what news, opinions, and content you see based on what keeps you engaged — not what's accurate, important, or good for you. Take that power back. Subscribe directly to sources you trust. Use RSS feeds or newsletters. When you use AI tools, use them to find and summarize information you're looking for — on your terms, for your purposes. Stop passively consuming whatever a feed serves up.
Pick three trusted sourcesThe biggest reason people reach for their phones is boredom, not addiction. If you don't have a plan for your downtime, the path of least resistance leads back to the adult pacifier. Decide in advance what you'll do with your evenings, your weekends, your commute. Hobbies, exercise, cooking, conversation. The more specific the plan, the less power the default has.
Write down three alternativesYou don't have to do all seven. Pick the one that feels most doable and start there. One deliberate change creates momentum for the next.
The goal isn't to be a luddite. The goal is to turn off autopilot.
Make it Sustainable
Build your foundation.
Relationships, health, work, creativity, rest — and beyond the basics, what do you actually want for leisure?
Your devices, your tools — social media, AI, streaming, news. What is optional and what is required?
If yes, are there downsides? How can you minimize them? Find your balance.
Pulling the plug on tech that's using you sounds great — but it's only sustainable if you have something better to run toward.
Make a plan for high-quality leisure. Books, hobbies, play, exercise, cooking, time with people — even streaming, if it's chosen on purpose. The emptiness is what pulls you back. Fill it first.
Your Next Steps
Questions, ideas, or want to bring this to your community? Reach out directly — no forms, no data collected.
hello@techwithintent.org