Role of Technology in Mental health
The only constant is change. With ever-changing technology, this cannot be truer. Checking your devices multiple times has become second nature for most of us. As the internet is evolving, so is our dependence on it. Some may even term it an addiction.
The internet, which was introduced as a way to make our lives easier, is now blamed for making us a slave of it. Higher technological progress is not always directly proportional to the mental and physical well being. You can see people busy on their phones or tablets everywhere. Our memories have turned into Instagram images and our need to feel validated by others has increased multifold. The number of “likes” on our posts gives us a false positive image and feeling of self-worth. Still, most of us can’t imagine our life without modern technology, filled with the Internet, mobiles, and computers. Our whole life revolves around these items.
Just because you are using the internet, doesn’t make you addicted. You may be checking your work emails on Gmail or Yahoo, shopping online to save time and to get a better deal, watching YouTube to entertain yourself, checking Facebook or Instagram to stay in touch with your close ones or reading this article to increase your knowledge about a subject of interest. Trouble chimes in only when these activities start taking over other responsibilities and become obsessive in nature.
According to a survey, the average Brit checks his phone 28 times a day. That’s at least once an hour and more than 10,000 times a year.
Our smart devices have become an essential part of modern life, and checking them regularly is second nature for most users. The problem is not the amount of time spent on the internet, but the purpose of using the internet. Although most jobs require web access for productivity it is the amount of time spent on browsing, while in the midst of work, that is becoming a large topic.
If you are failing to keep up with your schedule, procrastinating during important tasks, choosing the internet over social engagements, then the risk and effects of internet addiction are real.
Though often portrayed as a negative influence on our mental health, we should not forget how this smart technology also provides us with excellent tools and resources to take care of our mental well-being:
What is mindfulness?
Beginner’s guide to meditation
There are numbers of apps which invite and walk you through the process of achieving emotional and mental health. This definitely doesn’t substitute for professional advice and an individual should always seek professional help if dealing with chronic stress or anxiety. But if you are feeling a little overwhelmed, want to find some inner peace or add mindfulness as a routine, these apps can give you a head start.
Here is a list of some apps that you can choose from. Most of these apps are free and you can upgrade them if you are happy with the results.
- Aura: Whenever you’re stressed & anxious or having trouble sleeping, Aura will find mindfulness meditations, life coaching, stories, and music, created by the best therapists and coaches, personalized just for you. It takes just 3 minutes to feel better, and Aura will continuously learn about what helps you and improve the recommendations. Link
- Breethe: Meditation & Music: Destress & sleep better in only 10 min with your personal mindfulness coach! Breethe is the easiest way to meditate! Learn simple mindfulness and meditation techniques to help you bring more happiness, calm and peace of mind into your life. Link
- Buddhify: is the meditation app designed to fit into a busy modern lifestyle. Known for its beauty and incredible value for money, it is loved and used around the world. Link
- Calm: app for mindfulness and meditation to bring more clarity, joy and peace to your daily life. Join the millions experiencing less anxiety and better sleep with our guided meditations, Sleep Stories, breathing programs and relaxing music. Link
- Headspace: Meditation: Headspace is the simple way to reframe stress. Sleep trouble? Meditation creates the ideal conditions for a good night’s rest. Relax with guided meditations and mindfulness techniques that bring calm, wellness and balance to your life in just a few minutes a day. Get more from your day through mindfulness, be less distracted and reactive, and focus on the things that matter most to you. Link
- iMindfulness: The app has been designed for use by beginners to mindfulness meditation, as well as experienced mindfulness practitioners.
Besides an introduction to mindfulness and how to practice it, the app contains 3 guided meditations by Christene Burgess. Link
- Insight Timer: 9374 free Guided Meditation, Home to more than 4,000,000 meditators, Insight Timer is rated as the top free meditation app on the Android and iOS platforms. It covers: Meditation, Yoga, Healing, Walking, Breathing, Tai Chi, Chanting, Prayer. Link
- Relax Melodies: Experience sleep like never before. Thanks to Relax Melodies, over 30 million users benefit from deep, uninterrupted sleep every night. Combining over 100 relaxation sounds, melodies, binaural beats and white noise, Relax Melodies allows you to create your very own relaxing soundscapes. Play them all night or for a determined period of time, thanks to its built-in timer. Link
- Stress Free Now: Featuring seven different relaxation techniques, Cleveland Clinic Stress Meditations is easy to use and highly effective. By practicing these techniques, you will impact your health destiny and change your life for the better. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/mobile-apps/stress-free-now-app
- Stop, Breathe & Think: Stop, Breathe & Think, the app for meditation & mindfulness, has a unique approach that allows you to check in with your emotions, and then recommends short, guided meditations, yoga and acupressure videos, tuned to how you feel. Link
- Simply Being – Guided Meditation for Relaxation and Presence: Meditate easily with this elegantly simple App, the only meditation app you may ever need. Enjoy the deep relaxation, stress relief and benefits of meditation without prior experience. You can choose from 5 meditation times and you have the option to listen to the guided meditation alone or with music or nature sounds. You can also listen to the music or nature sounds alone. In addition, you can choose how long to listen to the music or nature sounds after the voice guidance finishes. Link
- Smiling Mind: Smiling Mind is a unique web and app-based program developed by psychologists and educators to help bring balance to people’s lives. Just as we eat well and stay fit to keep our body healthy, mindfulness meditation is about mental health and looking after the mind. Link
- Sattva Meditations & Mantras: Authentic, deeply profound and drawing from Vedic principles of meditation that millions of people have benefitted from for thousands of years, the meditations, chants and mantras on Sattva are delivered by Sanskrit scholars who have mastered the subtle inner workings of the mind. Link
- MINDBODY: Fitness, Salon & Spa: With MINDBODY, tapping into the best fitness, wellness & beauty services has never been easier. Whether you’re searching for a new spa or scheduling your go-to workout, find and book classes or services where you want, at the price you want. Link
- Mindfully ME: Enhancing mindfulness, leading to increased self-awareness, authenticity, and self-care. Guided meditations to support your practice. Link
- Mindfulness Coach: Mindfulness means paying attention, on purpose, to whatever is going on in the present moment without passing judgment on it. Mindfulness has been shown to be effective for reducing stress, improving emotional balance, increasing self-awareness, helping with anxiety and depression, and coping more effectively with chronic pain. This app was developed to help Veterans, Service members, and others learn how to practice mindfulness. It offers exercises, information, and a tracking log so that you can optimize your practice. Link
- Mindfulness Daily: Gentle reminders to intentionally pause for a few mindful breaths in meaningful moments, daily lessons to refine and tune your personal path to peace, Healthkit integrated timer to deepen your mindful minutes practice and a lifelog that captures your own journal to discover insights – a complete set of tools, each lovingly designed to support your commitment to practice mindfulness in your unique daily life. Link
- Meditation Timer Pro: No matter if you are going to join meditators, a beginner or practice meditation for a long time, Meditation Timer Pro can help you do it better. You can just focus on meditation without thinking about the time.
Meditation is a classic, simple and inexpensive way to lead you into a wonderful state of inner peace and inner calm, and it helps to keep you relax from anxious, tense, worried etc and also stress reduction, meditation enhance your physical, mental and emotional wellbeing. Link
- Omvana: Choose from hundreds of guided meditations, inspirational speeches, binaural tracks and much, much more. Omvana is bringing you the world’s largest collection of personal growth audios in one handy app. Hot categories include Sleep, Hypnosis, Productivity, Inspirational Speeches, Guided Meditations, Binaural Beats, and many more. Link
- 10% Happier: A clear, simple approach to meditation with a NY Times bestselling author and some of the most respected (and cool) meditation teachers on the planet. Designed for skeptics, built to help you keep it going. Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics. A clear, simple approach to meditation with bestselling author Dan Harris and the most respected teachers and scientists on the planet. Link
You can also follow 5 Simple Practices for Daily Life to take a mindful movement.
Our goal is to provide you with this compilation of apps so as to let you choose the one you feel most connected with. In my own personal experience, I can say that you will start feeling gradually an increasing sense of control over stressful and anxiety-provoking emotions. Mindfulness also guides you to be present at the moment, which would ultimately make you feel better about yourself and your life.
Like all other things in this world, technology also has two sides. We need to be mindful to make the best of our daily turbulence. Instead of using it as needed, it is helpful to practice it daily, so that it becomes a source to reduce stress, anxiety and negative thoughts. Mental health professionals, researchers, and developers are working in making mindfulness more readily available using evolving technologies.
Image source & Image source
About the Author
Erika Engel
Erika Engel is an executive/life coach and therapist. She works with clients to help them increase self-awareness in order to create more choice in personal and professional pursuits and to arrive at their own definition of balance and fulfillment. She has been interested in mindfulness for a number of years and has completed a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction course at the Toronto Mindfulness Clinic led by Lucinda Skyes. Erika often recommends mindfulness meditation to reduce anxiety and stress for her clients.
Erika has completed the Advanced Training in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy program at the Toronto Psychoanalytic Society. She is also a member of the Canadian Association for Psychodynamic Therapy. Erika is certified by the International Coaching Federation and is qualified by Psychometrics Canada to administer the MBTI.
The only constant is change. With ever-changing technology, this cannot be truer. Checking your devices multiple times has become second nature for most of us. As the internet is evolving, [...]
