4 Ways Meditation Apps Fail At Aiding Mindfulness
The irony of notifications helping you to be present.
Mindfulness is the art of living in the present moment. It’s also a rapidly growing billion-dollar industry. These two faces throw up some hilarious contradictions, especially when combined with technology.
I’m not against the meditation app industry. They’re making the big bucks, but they’ve introduced healthy practices in many people’s lives which non-profits have been trying for years. Maintaining purity could mean denying millions of a means to de-stress.
My own practice has come from what I’ve learned in karate and yoga. I’d never considered using an app because part of the joy in my training is a completely tech-free hour. But I let my curiosity get the better of me when I got a perk that allowed me a year free subscription to an app.
The actual meditations are well made and I’ve enjoyed them. Yet the business side worms its way through the app and it’s clear the sacrifices made for money and growth. I left the default settings on for a month as an experiment to see if it could win me over. Here’s what you need to be careful of!
P.S. I won’t say which app it is but it has millions of users.
