💬 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”

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Aaron Davis
Aaron Davis

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