Hacker News Reader

Comment by burke | Hacker News Reader

> I don't like apps/hacks when it comes to mindfulness and meditation. Humans have been successfully meditating for thousands of years without them. Gamification of mindfulness totally misses the point.

I take a bit of issue with this idea in general that because something has worked for thousands of years, we shouldn't try to apply modern ideas to it. In this case, I think for the actual practice of mindfulness, it's mostly true that helpful technology aids are ironically unhelpful, but building a habit can be hard. Apps like Headspace and so on help a lot of people build the habit.

Seconding the book recommendation -- it's by far the best book I've read on the topic too.

View on HN

On this particular topic, I am of the opinion that the degree of success of the "old ways" of meditating is far, far superior than any app user of the present.

I have mixed feelings overall with the technological aides available for meditation now. I think they are causing more people than ever to take up the practice which is great.

I bought one of those $300 headbands that "monitored your brain wave" while meditating and had all the apps. A chapter or two into the book I realized how ridiculous it all was. They might have helped establish a habit, but I was never going to progress very far while using them.

I'm guessing based on the price point that I helped build the SDK for the headband you bought. :)

The headband was actually very cool by the way, and I do believe it worked as advertised. I'm just not convinced it's a great method method to learn meditation.

I agree that mindfulness apps can help people get into the habit or develop an interest.

What I personally take issue with is the idea that mindfulness and enlightenment can be boiled down to 10 min intervals without even having to remove your earbuds.

I'm glad more and more people are getting into mediation and seeing the benefits, I just hope that developing mindfulness as a skill doesn't get lost in the app-of-month trends.

> idea in general that because something has worked for thousands of years, we shouldn't try to apply modern ideas to it

That's not the point Lom7 made. Some "modern ideas" like neurology seem to go very well with meditation. Some.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com