28: The Joy of Being an Attention Activist, with Jay Vidyarthi

“The forces all around you are… pushing you to be a different way than you want to be. That’s a design problem.”

Jay Vidyarthi was one of the creators of Muse, a headband utilizing biofeedback to guide and train meditation that introduced thousands of beginners to an accessible world of mindfulness practice. He’s also had a hand in the development and strategic launch of more than a dozen other apps and event platforms connecting consumers around the world to mindfulness technologies and communities. As an important companion to this impressive CV, though, Jay is also on the board of America Offline, a nonprofit organization of tech leaders working hard to expand the presence of offline social, educational, and vocational experiences, especially for American children, and continues to develop and advise the Healthy Minds Program, the University of Madison-Wisconsin’s world-renowned research institute exploring the mind-body connection to lifelong health and well-being.

Jay views all the accomplishments of the many projects he’s brought to life- as well as the harm and suffering that continues to arise out of our collective struggle to relate with technology in a healthy way- as design challenges. In this episode, Jay shares how the lens of design can be used to find balance, mindfulness, and joy in how we choose to consume our tech.


Highlights from this episode:

* “We’re all… on our own journey, and wherever these tools might arise that help support us, I think at best they’re gonna help us get to the next step… but ultimately we have to keep our vigilance if we’re aiming for something more than just the superficial, and getting to the depth that… you and me and everyone needs to reach for if our society is going to get back on track.” Mindfulness exercises like meditation should be seen as a gateway to deeper reflection on ourselves and intentional living.
* “...the organizations that are currently leading social media are operating off a preferred situation of making themselves rich, and only now are they starting to understand the existing situation and how it’s impacting people’s lives.” Bad design methodology focuses on the indirect consequences of a creation (like profit) rather than the specific impact the design will have- whether intentional or unintentional.
* “Vote with your time… and then you start the hard journey of disconnecting from things that may seem tempting but are not good for you, loved ones, community, or society, and that’s a big challenge we’re all facing in our lives.” Things like social media exist and take the forms they do because we demand and sustain them. If we make better individual choices for ourselves, the ecosystem will always follow.


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Christina Crook Twitter: https://twitter.com/cmcrookInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thechristinacrook

CreditsHosted by Christina CrookProduced by Christina Crook and Thomas J IndgeEditing and Music by Thomas J IndgeExecutive Produced by Christina Crook and Rebecca Wigaard, with production assistance from Natalie Semotiuk

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