💬 Meditation in the Time of Disruption

Replied to Meditation in the Time of Disruption by Mike Powell (The Ringer)

Using Insight Timer, which greets you with a large map charting everyone currently meditating on the app (as well as a tally of how many people have meditated today and a ticker of how many are meditating at that very moment), it can be impossible to feel alone. The first few times I use it, it reminds me of wandering into a good used bookstore: You’ll probably find what you want eventually, but you’re going to get lost in some weird stuff along the way.

Is it just me or does the combination of mindfulness and platform capitalism seem slightly ironic? I respect the lofty aspirations to develop:

A platform to give meditation away for free to everyone on the planet.

However, if this is built on the back of angel funding, then there is clearly some windfall at play? When the developer starts analysing the data:

In the course of charting user data and trying to discern exactly what Insight Timer actually is, Plowman has noticed that “People who come in with preferences set to secular and highly scientific teachings start to meander.”

It provides insight into the benefit that such a platform could gain, especially when combined with other data points.

2 responses on “💬 Meditation in the Time of Disruption”

  1. I too have started reading Twitter and Tear Gas. I too am being challenged by it. I somehow thought that it wouldn’t be applicable in the field of EdTech. What it has me thinking is that in ‘networked publics’ there is not imaginary line where EdTech (whatever that actually means) starts and stops.
    Thank you too for the shoutout. It definitely has sparked some interesting conversation. I read a post today about mindfulness apps, yet it overlooked the collection of data associated with the completion of various. We are asked to be conscious of our breathing, yet ignore the data that we share on a daily basis.

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  2. Some great points here Greg. I particularly liked your rephrasing of digital mindfulness as ‘being mindful of the digital’. This was epitomised to me on the weekend in a post on mindfulness that seemed to lack any awareness of the underlying data inherent within platform capitalism.
    I also agree about the finding the balance between the technology and the human. I have really enjoyed Douglas Rushkoff’s exploration of this area with the Team Human podcast. I look forward to reading the book too when it comes out.

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