"Using the bad for something good" : Exploring the possible paradox of meditation apps in light of digital stress

Abstract: This study investigates meditation apps from a user perspective. While focusing on the user, interviews with psychologists and an auto-ethnographic study of three different meditation apps were used to inform the research, enrich the findings and create an as wholesome as possible picture. The research aims to explore user’s motivations and experiences as well as the possible paradox of meditation through a smartphone in light of digital stress. Taking a user-centered approach, the theories informing this work include the Instrumental Theory of Technology; Theories of the self, including Foucault’s Practices of Selfhood and Lipton’s self-tracking practices; Existential Media Theory; and theories of the public and the private including the Publicization of the Private. This study shows that high achieving young adults use meditation apps as a convenient, accessible and cost-effective tool for self-improvement. However, users mainly see the apps as a stepping block and have the goal to eventually establish a meditation practice without using the phone. While users think that it would be better to meditate without an app, their meditation app allows them to fit the meditation practice into the context of their busy everyday life.