Cultivating Harmony on Discord

We live in an increasingly fast-paced digital world that continually competes for our attention. Cultivating a practice that enables us to move beyond the thinking mind and into the body is increasingly essential for maintaining mental well-being (Munroe, 2022). The ancient practice of meditation, a multi-approached discipline known for its numerous benefits (Bogart, 1991; Kabat-Zinn, 2003), continues to gain popularity as a way to change one’s relationship to their stressors (Carmona-Rincón et al., 2023), but the practice is not a panacea, nor is it a straightforward exercise (Bogart, 1991) . Moreover, meditation practices and other mindfulness based interventions (MBIs) may feel foreign and counter to one’s faith traditions. For example, Haidar et al.’s (2023) qualitative text review of 18 interviews suggests that Black Americans feelings about MBIs like meditation are mixed; citing ‘religion and spirituality’ as the primary reason for avoiding the practices.

With the rise of online platforms designed for community building, Discord has emerged as a versatile tool for creating virtual spaces where people can come together, share experiences, and support each other’s well-being journeys (Reitman et al., 2021). In this blog post, I explore the unique affordances of Discord for developing a vibrant meditation community and integrating research on MBIs via the lens of Meditation Mind (MM) a highly active Discord server bringing together thousands of users around the world in the service, support, and practice of meditation (Meditation Mind, 2023).

Understanding Discord’s Affordances

Initially designed for gamers (Discord, Inc., 2020), Discord has evolved into a multifunctional platform offering several vital affordances conducive to building a meditation community. MM effectively leverages many of Discord’s unique features.

CUSTOMIZABLE SERVERS

Discord allows users to create customized servers tailored to specific topics or interests (Reitman et al., 2021). This feature is ideal for creating a dedicated space for meditation enthusiasts to gather, share resources, and discuss mindfulness practices and techniques. MM offers users dozens of channels, curating experiences for a diverse community. MM’s channel, dedicated to multicultural mind-body practices, houses sub-channels for secular, eastern, western somatic, and alternative experiences, thereby recognizing the importance of secondary diversity dimensions like religion and faith practices to individual wellness experiences (Beyer & Beaman, 2019; Haidar et al., 2023).

TEXT AND VOICE CHANNELS

Discord offers text and voice channels, enabling diverse forms of interaction (Discord, Inc., 2020). Members can participate in real-time voice meditation sessions, share written reflections, or engage in asynchronous discussions, fostering a sense of connection and community. MM offers synchronous voice channels supporting real-time silent meditation in the community and opportunities for screen-on discussion and events supporting wellness practices (Meditation Mind, 2023). MM’s ‘Questions’ text channel is a peer-led and carefully moderated opportunity for practitioners to present challenges to the thousands-strong community, and MM community members serving in moderator roles provide optimally-placed information about the non-professional nature of the forum, ensuring users do not confuse the affordances of peer-to-peer support with professional guidance.

ROLES AND PERMISSIONS

Discord administrators can assign roles and permissions to users, facilitating organization and moderation within the community (Discord, Inc., 2020; Reitman et al., 2021). This helps maintain a supportive and respectful environment conducive to mindfulness practice and personal growth. Discord’s hierarchical design structure facilitates moderators’ abilities to resolve disputes, set social norms, and protect the integrity of the moderator’s server intentions (Reitman et al., 2021). MM’s presentation of ‘roles and permissions’ features is easy to use and highly detailed, free of jargon and complexity. MM prominently features a server guide and ‘channels and roles’ channel on their server and uses emoticons to identify user moderator roles. Research suggests emoticons can be effective visual cues for users, strengthening a message, noting that smiley faces or emoticons denoting positive messaging are received more positively (Derks et al., 2007).

MM’s server guide makes opting in and out of channels accessible and easy to locate and navigate; it also empowers community members to customize their MM Discord experience. MM provides server suggestions, access to their archives, their welcome team, and spaces allied with the LGBTQ+ community, and easy access to turning DM and ping features on or off.

INTEGRATION WITH BOTS AND TOOLS

Discord supports the integration of bots and productivity tools, enhancing the community experience (Discord, Inc., 2020; Reitman et al., 2021). I’m a particular fan of MM‘s meditation tracking tool, which awards disciplined meditators with emojis serving as time and consistency badges and gamified challenges using leaderboards to make cultivating a daily meditation practice fun and collaborative. Gamification features like badges, leaderboards, and challenges, all prominent in Meditation Mind‘s server, are well-researched methods for cultivating user engagement (Landers et al., 2018). I use it daily to keep myself accountable for my daily practice. I’m not alone. MM has tracked 31,795 hours of global meditation tracking as of this writing.

MM appears to use Discord bots to moderate their administrative teams’ complex moderation roles, which Reitman et al. (2021) recommend, rather than relying on the bots they’ve established to handle their moderation jobs for them.

PEER SUPPORT AND ACCOUNTABILITY

The community aspect of Discord fosters peer support and accountability, which are critical elements in sustaining a regular meditation practice (Bogart, 1991). Members can share their progress, challenges, and successes, creating a culture of encouragement and mutual learning. MM uses several Discord features to provide these opportunities beyond the gamification features previously mentioned. Meditation Mind ‘s ‘Personal Growth’ main channel includes accountability, intention-setting, gratitude, and loving-kindness nested channels, providing members spaces to book-end their daily practices and lean on each other in the digital sangha (Meditation Mind, 2023). Voice channels allow users to join at leisure, providing quick access to an accountability tool I use in my Body Scan in VR Discord server. I use the Discord server to meditate or do a body scan with cameras and microphones on — a radical form of accountability. MM, too provides community members with two robust accountability and community voice channel opportunities for guided and silent practicing (Meditation Mind, 2023).

Discord’s affordances for community building and the integration of mindfulness-based interventions present exciting opportunities for creating inclusive and impactful spaces for meditation enthusiasts. By leveraging Discord’s features, MBI communities on Discord can nurture personal well-being, foster connections, and contribute to the broader discourse on mindfulness in the digital age.

REFERENCES

Beyer, P., & Beaman, L. G. (2019). Dimensions of Diversity: toward a more complex conceptualization. Religions, 10(10), 559. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel10100559

Bogart, G. (1991). The Use of Meditation in Psychotherapy: A Review of the Literature. American Journal of Psychotherapy, 45(3), 383–412. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.psychotherapy.1991.45.3.383

Carmona-Rincón, I., García‐Palacios, A., & Vázquez, S. S. (2023). Bienestar eudaimónico y meditación mindfulness en los contextos laborales: una revisión sistemática. Anales De Psicologia, 39(2), 273–286. https://doi.org/10.6018/analesps.493671

Derks, D., Bos, A. E. R., & Von Grumbkow, J. (2007). Emoticons and online message interpretation. Social Science Computer Review, 26(3), 379–388. https://doi.org/10.1177/0894439307311611

Discord Inc. (2020). Discord. Retrieved from https://discord.com

Haidar, A., Nwosisi, E., & Burnett-Zeigler, I. (2023). The Role of Religion and Spirituality in Adapting Mindfulness-Based Interventions for Black American Communities: A scoping review. Mindfulness, 14(8), 1852–1867. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-023-02194-5

Kabat-Zinn, J. (2003). Mindfulness-Based Interventions in context: past, present, and future. Clinical Psychology-science and Practice, 10(2), 144–156. https://doi.org/10.1093/clipsy/bpg016

Landers, R. N., Auer, E. M., Collmus, A. B., & Armstrong, M. B. (2018). Gamification Science, Its History and Future: Definitions and A Research Agenda. Simulation & Gaming, 49(3), 315–337. https://doi.org/10.1177/1046878118774385

Meditation Mind. (2023, August 26). Meditation mind — Meditation mind. https://meditationmind.org/

Munroe, M. (2022). Positive embodiment for wellbeing researchers and practitioners: A narrative review of emerging constructs, measurement tools, implications, and future directions. International Journal of Wellbeing, 12(2), 134–162. https://doi.org/10.5502/ijw.v12i2.1917

Reitman, J. G., Anderson, C. G., & Steinkuehler, C. (2021). Discord Community Challenges, Tools, and Strategies. Irvine, CA: Connected Learning Lab.

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