NON-CRAVING (CONTENTMENT)
Non-craving is the central intention. Its positive complement is the intention of contentment. The essence of this intention is to stop three specific kinds of craving: craving for permanence in the internet; craving for completion, wholeness, or self in the internet; and craving for ultimate satisfaction in the internet. This kind of craving is a craving not only to get to the next thing but to be completed or satisfied by the next thing. When this kind of craving is operating, it feels like the resolution of the craving will solve something fundamental and put us in a place of peaceful stasis that will last. People often experience it as the belief that if they could just get some particular digital condition or object everything would be all right. But getting that thing, experiencing whatever those digital conditions are, never satisfies. You get it, and everything just keeps going. The thing changes, the conditions change, and your craving keeps craving by attaching to something else. You never get to the state of peace you wanted, because the internet does not exist in a state of peace. Things do not resolve over the internet. There is no end to the story or ultimate achievement, and there is no end to craving because of this. If we want peace from that process, we will get only dissatisfaction and suffering. This is why the first and primary intention is to let go of craving for completion in the internet and to cultivate contentment in the present moment.
It's important to note that there is a difference between craving for completion and simple, everyday craving. There is nothing wrong with everyday craving like being curious about a topic or wanting to be entertained. This kind of craving comes and goes, and it can drive or not drive our actions. If you are on the internet, after all, you aren't there to just stare at blank webpages, and you will naturally have impulses to view some things and not other things. These impulses in themselves are not what leads to dissatisfaction. It is the added layer of craving for completion that leads to dissatisfaction, because this kind of craving strives for something that cannot be achieved: a permanent sense of satisfaction and wholeness in the internet. This striving for permanent satisfaction almost always underlies simple cravings, but it is an added layer that is not essential to these impulses. It's one thing to check the news and expect to see the news; it's something else entirely to check the news and on some level (however discrete or unconscious) hope for a resolution to the problems of life. There is no resolution to the problems of life; there is only continuation of life. This is entirely the point. Underlying most of our activities on the internet is an insidious craving for completion that cannot be had. We are holding out hope for miracle cures, omniscience, salvation, fame, perfection, wealth, even annihilation--and it is this false hope that causes us to suffer and live in a continual state of craving and dissatisfaction. The answer to this is not to cultivate better and more effective craving; the answer is to let go of craving for completion and cultivate contentment in the present moment.