The irony of notifications helping you to be present
Created by the author
Mindfulness is the art of living in the present moment. It’s also a rapidly growing billion-dollar industry. These two faces throw up some hilarious contradictions, especially when combined with technology.
I’m not against the meditation app industry. They’re making the big bucks, but they’ve introduced healthy practices in many people’s lives which non-profits have been trying for years. Maintaining purity could mean denying millions of a means to de-stress.
My own practice has come from what I’ve learned in karate and yoga. I’d never considered using an app because part of the joy in my training is a completely tech-free hour. But I let my curiosity get the better of me when I got a perk that allowed me a year free subscription to an app.
The actual meditations are well made and I’ve enjoyed them. Yet the business side worms its way through the app and it’s clear the sacrifices made for money and growth. I left the default settings on for a month as an experiment to see if it could win me over. Here’s what you need to be careful of!
P.S. I won’t say which app it is but it has millions of users.
#1 Push notification reminders
How many times have you heard a mindfulness guru tell you to switch on all your notifications? When many people are trying to reduce their distractions it seems like a joke for the app to encourage them on for the best experience.
A push notification is almost the exact opposite of being mindful. It takes you out of the present moment to check your little screen. The important notifications are cliché daily reminders; mainly so you don’t forget you have the app installed. I found myself reacting to the notification, rolling my eyes then scrolling Instagram for a couple of minutes. Not ideal.
Here are some of my favorite reminders (for the wrong reasons):
- “The beginning is always this present moment” — Do you mean the moment you literally just pulled me out of?
- “Make meditation a daily practice, and it will soon become a habit” — A daily practice is by definition a habit. In other news, if you splash water on yourself, you get wet.
- “It’s time to meditate” — Most people can’t just freeze what they are doing to start listening to a 10-minute meditation unless they were already planning to do it.
At the start, the reminders were helpful but once you’ve dismissed them a couple of times, they’re useless as accountability. You end up recognizing the sayings as they are on a random repeat.
How to take back control: Turn off notifications and emails. Meditate when works best for you not when your phone tells you to.
#2 Use of celebrities to pull you in
I’ve never watched a Hollywood blockbuster where the whole cast is comprised of meditation gurus. So why would I want to listen to meditation sessions by Hollywood B-listers?
It feels commercial and dirty. We see up to 10,000 adverts a day with famous faces used to sell all types of brands. I expect a clean and relaxing user interface but instead, I’m met with garish colors designed to emphasize the attractive celebrities they’ve got on board.
I’m being exposed to exactly what I’m trying to avoid in other apps like Instagram. It’s hard to disconnect from the outside world when the person’s voice and picture trigger so many associations. When the subscription models are so expensive, you have to wonder whether a cheaper product without huge spending on marketing would better achieve the mission they preach.
How to take back control: Use the app in black and white because it’s less engaging and go straight to whatever you want to do, don’t browse.
#3 Tracking overload
If you are meditating purely to keep a streak up, then I question your mindfulness. It’s not an attack because I did it myself near the start. I was on a Zoom with friends until late in the evening so I played the meditation with my sound off so I didn’t lose my streak. I was happy to delude my mind and look at my great stats.
Gamification is effective in many instances of making a boring task more enjoyable. Yet meditation isn’t meant to be a dopamine dump; it’s where you listen to your own thoughts and it might be boring sometimes. I acknowledge for some the gamification is the trigger but over time they engage more with the meditation itself.
Post-meditation, the app turns into a mess. You’re encouraged to do 6 separate activities on the completion screen. It’s trying to get you as attached as possible to the app. Share with your friends so you can guilt them for not meditating! Record your thought of the day and spend even more time on your phone!
How to take back control: If you find yourself going through the motions to keep a streak then break it. Start afresh the next day or the day after when you’re in the right frame of mind.
#4 No option to unsubscribe
This is the most infuriating. Part of the point of being mindful is being intentional in your actions yet the app doesn’t allow you to cancel your subscription. It’s in fact impossible to without emailing customer support even on the desktop site. This should never happen in 2020!
I have a free annual subscription through a deal but they generally offer a 7-day free trial before it charges you the full price (non-refundable) without any reminders. It’s a trick used by many companies in the hope people forget but we should rightfully expect more from a company preaching mindfulness. I’m going to need to remember to cancel my membership when I inevitably get bored with the app and stop using it.
It’s more distasteful when you consider many users of the app will have downloaded it to deal with too much stress in their lives. A surprise charge then fighting with customer support will only make things worse.
How to take back control: Read the conditions closely and if you want to cancel, do it at least 2 days before the last day. Companies might count the 7th day liberally.
Criticisms aside, meditation apps can add value to people’s lives. There’s growing scientific research into their effects and the competition between companies is encouraging legitimization. All you have to do is remember one thing. Use the apps to serve you, don’t serve them.