I have practiced meditation for the past 12 years, more recently in line with the Thai Forest Tradition—aka the teachings of Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
For my part, I meditate whenever I can: if I’m in the subway, I start playing a dharma talk on iTunes and I focus on where my body as-felt-from-within feels good as I’m on the subway. I also do my best to meditate from home once a day, anywhere between 10 to 40 minutes.
I think there are limits on what mindfulness can do for tech. For one thing, the meditation master Luang Pu Dune defined suffering as ‘the mind flowing out to its objects’—and what is design but enticing people’s minds to flow out onto a web page and navigate it? Of course, we can use the enhanced sensitivity that comes with a meditation practice to be alert to seductive design cues and advise against their use.
That said, there is goodness in the work we are doing to reduce the addictiveness of technology. One thing I’ve been taught is that mindfulness and generosity are not distinct things: indeed, without generosity, meditation is rather pathetic—because you give yourself qualities of mind, you give yourself time to practice, and you give yourself permission to open doors you never even dreamed existed. In our giving time to others to lead more fulfilling lives, that goodness is not wasted. We should remain… mindful of that.