There exists at least one app that sends motivational quotes to your phone throughout the day. That seems harmless enough, but I think there may be something nefarious at play here. The fact that those two sentences are written in succession makes me silently chuckle for at least two reasons. The first reason is simple enough, found in the apparent juxtaposition of the adjectives ‘motivational’ and ‘nefarious.’ The second reason is the idea that I sit in a room at absurd hours of the night/morning and find myself compelled to write about something inspired by the existence of an app supposedly dedicated to daily motivation. How ridiculous of a notion…but I digress.

Just to be clear, the issue I take with this app has little to do with the app itself. The app is just an example of an issue that is not very easy to contend with. Why develop an app dedicated to daily motivation? This is the question which will serve as a catalyst for this line of thought I would like to entertain. The question of ‘Why?’ is an afterthought, barely considered in comparison to the question ‘What?’, and therein lies the issue.

An easy answer to the question regards the need that some people have for just a little extra daily inspiration. After all, a bit of positivity, even if only in the form of a notification from an app, seems like a decent way to start a day. Someone recognized this, and they either developed the app or partnered with someone who could with the sole intent of brightening the days of their users.

Another answer takes all of the previous answer and adds monetary motivation as the cherry on top. I think it is only fair that someone should be rewarded for a service they provide, either from ad revenue on their app or adding a price to purchase the app. This could fund app maintenance and updates, furthering outreach in order to brighten more peoples’ days, as we established was the developers’ motivation. However, what if money is the only motivation?

To expand on that question, what if the only motivation for the development of the app is a selfish motivation, one that achieves personal gain at the expense of the app’s integrity/quality? It could be the case that the developer just wanted to make a quick buck. It could be the case that the developer wanted to put ‘app development’ as a skill on a resume. It could be that the developer wanted to appear to be a good person, dedicated to brightening peoples’ days.

Do the ends justify the means? Does impact justify motivation? Do pure motivations justify negative impact? In any case, it seems to be that the answer is ‘Sometimes.’ In the case of the app, I think the impact justifies the motivation in all but the most extreme and unlikely cases. For example, what if someone developed the app in order to fund an addition to their home, the addition of a rape dungeon, specifically. Extreme, unlikely, not to be considered in this thought exercise: this is just an example, so you know what I mean when I say “…in all but the most extreme and unlikely cases.”

There are, however, cases where the impact is not justified by the motivation. Take, for example, a company deciding to pay all of their low rank, minimum wage earning workers an extra 20 dollars per hour with the hopes of demonstrating that they care about their employees at all levels and perhaps inspiring other companies to do the same, maybe even inspiring a change in minimum wage laws. Those are fairly pure motivations, not that this is a comment on what I think about the state of capitalism in America. Let’s say there was a bit of a miscalculation regarding the reallocation of profits, executive salaries, etc. and the company tanks, leaving all of their employees jobless. The pure motivations do not seem justified by the given catastrophic impact. Let’s give an alternate motivation to demonstrate the same conclusion given a less naïve company. Let’s say the executives of the company want to demonstrate that minimum wage laws should be left alone, so they made these hefty reallocations hastily on purpose with the intention of tanking the company, an example of forced martyrdom. Again, this is not a justifiable motivation given the outcome.

This is a pretty ridiculous scenario, but it demonstrates the idea fairly well. Let’s simplify things. Let’s say you’re in an argument with your significant other, and the other is getting quite heated, perhaps even aggressive, saying hurtful things out of misdirected anger. There are an infinite number of options regarding how you could progress, but let’s focus on the most common. Let’s say you try to soften the tone, so you lower your voice and say something along the lines of ‘Hold on; let’s take a minute to slow down and just calm down.’ In the heat of a passionate argument, that seems to be a decently reasonable thing to say given this motivation. However, let’s say this is taken as an insult, and your significant other becomes offended at the notion that they are behaving in a less calm manner than you, that you might know better how to have an argument than they do. In response, they become angrier and get more aggressive. Is the motivation justified by the impact? What if you take the route of fighting fire with fire, responding with your own hurtful comments? Are those motivations justified by the impact your words might have? Let’s then examine what your partner’s response might be. If they would only take a moment to consider why you might have said the hurtful things you said, would they realize the error in the ways they had spoken to you to cause your outburst? If you both considered the motivations of the other, would there be any need at all for hostility?

There comes a point of diminishing returns with examples, so I’ll move on. The point is this: it seems not to be a complete waste of time to ask ‘Why?’ regarding motivations for actions. I would even say it can be a very useful skill to develop an understanding of what motivations are possible and which of those motivations are likely, helping one navigate difficult issues and/or conversations, and you can take that advice to the bank. After all, it comes from a 21 year-old white guy who has previously struggled with his mental health.