The term ‘mindfulness’ is one that gets thrown around quite a lot, and the practice itself has vastly increased in popularity in recent years.

The collective drive towards mindfulness and meditation runs parallel to a steady rise in the use of modern technology in our everyday lives. As a collective, we spend hours every day scrolling through our Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter feeds, subconsciously soaking in the thousands of opinions, thoughts, and idealised versions of humanity.

Mindfulness, a core concept of Buddhism, can be traced back as far as the fifth century BC. However, Dr. Jon Kabat Zinn, Professor of Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, is credited with the recent interest with mindfulness in the West.

Dr. Zinn has coined one of the most widely used definitions of the practice:

“Paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment and non-judgmentally.”

Dr. Zinn argues:

“Mindfulness represents a new way of being in relationship with yourself, one that’s catalytic of a new way of ongoing learning and healing. The transformation comes with the understanding that you are not your thoughts about yourself. You are far, far bigger, more nuanced and multidimensional than who you think you are, the story of you.”

Today, apps for mindfulness, such as Headspace, have over 16 million downloads, proving that the trend is well and truly alive. However, it’s a bit ironic that there are apps created to help us be mindful and ‘unplug’ from our phones, which are aimed for use on our phones, so that we don’t forget to connect with others and ourselves through mindfulness.

Headspace was co-founded by a former Buddhist monk, Andy Puddicombe. When asked about the ethics and commercialization of the ancient Buddhist practice he said:

“I still think of it as a mission, commercial success just came as part of it.”

These apps use push notifications every day asking the user “Is it time to mediate today?” So while mindfulness has been used to treat anxiety in people, mindfulness apps can actually induce anxiety in the user.

Co-founder for the Center for Humane Technology, Joe Edelman said:

“The coded structure of push notifications makes it harder to prioritize a value of personal focus; and similar structures interfere with other values, like being honest or kind to people, being thoughtful, etc.”

In an interview for STAND News, final year Multimedia student Sarah Leonard said:

‘’You don’t often get an option to change the voice on the app, which makes it uncomfortable if you don’t like the voice you’re listening to. With the one I had, I never had the option to hear a woman’s voice; why is that? Also, sometimes it tells you that ‘you should be feeling relaxed’, which can be really irritating if you’re not.”

Mindfulness is an ancient practice that asks us to be present in the moment and not distracted. At its core, it reminds us that life is constantly changing, and helps us to deal with this reality. Buddhists believe that the root of all human suffering stems from attachment and desire – to reach full enlightenment is to release all forms of that.

When Buddha was asked, “What have you gained from meditation?” He replied: “Nothing. However, let me tell you what I have lost. Anger. Anxiety. Depression. Insecurity. Fear of old age and fear of death.”

Perhaps then it’s time to put down our phones and take a class in mindfulness, or yoga (which is meditation in movement) so that we quiet the mind, connect the body, and breathe on our own, and really unplug – not just download the Unplug app.

 

 

 

 

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Image courtesy of Simon Migaj via Unsplash

 

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