Mindfulness and Meditation Apps – Yes, or No?

Advertisements for mindfulness and meditation apps fill our Instagram and Facebook feeds, appear during commercial breaks on television, are made available through networks like HBO Max, and are advertised to employees by thousands of companies. Access to these products varies. If you’re an individual, you can download them from the App Store or Google Play. If your employer is offering access to these apps, you may receive credits or a new piece of software. Which often go unused.

But the real question; are mindfulness and meditation apps worth your time, energy, and money?

Smartphones & Allocating Attention

The benefits of meditation apps depend on each individual: What you’re hoping to get from one of these apps and your relationship with your smartphone. Let’s start with the fact that three billion+ people carry a smartphone every day. Studies vary, but it’s been found that people check their phones between 50-150 times per day. Each time we open our phones, we visit multiple apps (email, text, Facebook, Instagram, etc.) and perform a few functions before tucking it away for another six minutes. While the new expectations from work make it often necessary to check our phones regularly, this small action may take us away from what we could or should be doing. This is an important area for us to bring about mindful awareness.

We feel the vibration in our bag or pocket, and instantly there’s an emotional and psychological response. Our mind wanders: “who might that be…?” “Maybe they need something.” Our mind is off and running, and we’ve “left the room.” If we’re not mindful of our relationship with our device(s), we may reach for it, get pulled into one or more apps, and perhaps tumble forward into more unnecessary “doing” and thinking that can sometimes include spiraling off, resulting in unpleasant thoughts and feelings. “I should be able to afford ___,” or I wish I said things differently to ____.” At the very least, we’re distracted… The simple act of reaching for our phone is a big part of where the problem lies.

However, if we’re mindfully aware, we can notice the urge the buzzing phone is creating and work with it skillfully. We can discern: “Is this meeting I’m in right now where my attention should be?” or “Is the conversation I’m having with my sister more important than checking my phone?” When we’re mindful, we can make the wisest decision which might mean saying to our sister: “Can we pause for one moment; I’m waiting on a very important message from my coworker and need to check my phone.” Oppositely, we may notice the impulse to check the phone, observe the instantaneous mental commentary, and realize the meeting we’re in, or the person we’re speaking with is where we need to focus our attention, and we can pick up our phone later.

Unpacking Mobile App Usage - The Effect On Our Mental Health

There are numerous other reasons why one would start meditating using an app. Some people begin using meditation apps to try and work with stress. Others are seeking a way to help with their sleep. But using apps for stress management and meditation is a slippery slope, and here’s why.

Let’s say you want to meditate four mornings per week. Super! Day one, you wake up, check your phone, respond to an email, scroll through Instagram, and now you’re ready to meditate. Sounds great, right? Maybe, but maybe not… 

After checking social media and email, your mind may be moving much faster, and you’ve possibly entered into fantasy land of sorts. Maybe you’re suddenly thinking about the past and wishing you did something differently. You may begin making plans or worrying about the future. Or, perhaps you’ve begun comparing your situation to your friends who have what appears to be having a much better time in life according to their last few social media posts. Off goes the mind… 

You may have spent so much time emailing, texting, and scrolling that you’re now in a time crunch, and either don’t meditate, meditate for half (or less) of the guided session, or abandon the meditation entirely because your mind is restless from scrolling Facebook. Certainly, there are those Type A personalities who are very good at keeping track of time and will make sure they do that 17-minute guided meditation. That said, they may be struggling with an overactive mind since they, too, sent an email, a text message and did some social media scrolling. If you’re a mediation app user, does any of this resonate with you? 

If it sounds like I’m suggesting apps aren’t ideal for mindfulness training, you’re mostly correct. In short, most of us don’t need another reason to pick up our phone and risk getting sucked into those shiny and addictive apps. Simple alternatives to app-based guided meditations are listening platforms like Spotify and Youtube, which have guided meditations in their libraries that you can listen to from your computer. Press play on the guided meditation of choice, then keep that computer out of reach, put your phone on silent mode, and see if you can settle in for a few minutes to observe and train your mind. But one thing to note is that there’s no good evidence that shows that mobile apps and listening libraries with pre-recorded meditations are of actual benefit. They’ve simply not been around long enough for researchers to study properly.

Getting The Most Out Of Mindfulness Practice 

This will first include human interaction… We know that mindfulness meditation with less guidance or with a properly trained facilitator or teacher can have tremendous benefits, especially when that teacher isn’t guiding and talking the entire time. In today’s world, expert teachers offer countless virtual meditation sessions that provide much better support and instruction than most apps. Yes, there are apps that enable us to join live communities, and those are better options. Just check the credentials to see who’s offering the session.

Freeing Yourself From Pre-Recorded Mindfulness Apps

Mindfulness and meditation apps do have their place for certain people under certain circumstances. They can help novices get started with a practice or as a means of supporting an existing mindfulness practice. If you are going to use an app, opt for those that offer simple, evidence-based mindfulness practice without flashy, unnecessary design and content, like UCLA’s Mindful App and Sam Harris’ Waking Up App. 

However, apps are only small tools that perhaps have more problems associated with them than they do benefits. Using meditation apps long-term would be akin to keeping the training wheels on a bicycle long after we’ve learned how to ride. If we don’t remove the training wheels, how can we possibly know the incredibly fulfilling experience of riding a bike without them? Mindfulness practice has vast depth and possibility, and we can best experience this without using a device we already spend more than enough time using. 

Recommended Mindfulness and Meditation Books

Invitation to Meditation by Howard Cohn – excellent for beginners. Timeless mindfulness teachings.  

Fully Present by Susan Smalley PhD & Diana Winston – for the curious type who wants to learn about mindfulness and neuroscience. 

Mindfulness by Joseph Goldstein – a profound and encyclopedic book that includes significant Buddhist teachings.