[lynx23]

Am I the only one who thinks meditation with an app is super hilariously weird? Its hard to explain without falling for too much cynism, but... the topic is mindfulness, not "have my phone tell me what to do next". If you are unable to mediate without the help of an app, start here, instead of pretending you are meditating just because some app tells you every step along the way.

[unmole]

> Am I the only one who thinks meditation with an app is super hilariously weird?

Yes.

> have my phone tell me what to do next"

The phone is a tool. It doesn't tell me what to do.

> you are unable to mediate without the help of an app, start here, instead of pretending you are meditating just because some app tells you every step along the way.

Mindfulness and Buddhism is traditionally practiced in a teacher-student setting. Are they all pretending to meditate because they have a teacher telling them what to do every step of the way?

Your entire comment reeks of utter mindlessness. Maybe an app would help?

[lazide]

Teachers and the Sangha exist to help guide, direct, and provide accountability for the student.

None of which is possible for an App to do, because an App isn’t aware.

This outsourcing of basic human awareness and community to tech is quite concerning and actively harmful to our mental health IMO.

[astrange]

It's not any weirder than any other exercise app. It keeps you on track and reminds you what you're supposed to do. (Which isn't exactly "just sit there." You can do it wrong.)

You can even get an EEG reader for biofeedback meditation like Muse. Works well as long as you stay away from the Deepak Chopra stuff.

[throw_pm23]

Exercise apps seem equally weird to me.

[wodenokoto]

Is guided meditation on cassette tape also hilariously weird? Or what about in-person guided meditation?

[throw_pm23]

Yes for the first, less so for the second.

[yadingus]

I've done vipassana retreats where they play audio files from Goenka's instructions. You can do the same with a phone.

I've used analogue timers to determine when to get up from my session. Please explain the difference between an analogue timer and a digital one, for this purpose.

[barrysteve]

It is strange.

I wouldn't come to a tech site to air the counter-tech opinion and I wouldn't anticipate a fair and balanced response.

[lynx23]

Wait, I couldn't even survive without my smartphone, being blind and all. Given that context, if a person deeply emersed in tech to actually get things done during the day says they think not everything should be solved with an app, that is a counter-tech opinion?

And yes, I sort of deliberately put this comment here to see how HN users react if their believes or their bussiness model are seemingly "attacked".

[Knee_Pain]

Have you downloaded the app? Have you seen how it works and what its options are? Everything you wrote is coming from a place of ignorance.