A Futurist's Take on Self-Tracking and Mindfulness

December 9, 2010

I’ve been thinking for some time about the connection between self-tracking and mindfulness. At first glance they seem to be very different – picture the wired-up gadget wizard sitting next to the unadorned meditating guru. But step to the side and look from a different angle, and you may see meditation and self-tracking as two parallel tools that lead down the same path toward mindfulness.

While these thoughts were swirling through my mind, I got an email from Alex Pang. Alex is a futurist currently housed at Microsoft Research Cambridge, where he is studying the relationship between self-tracking/self-experimentation and mindfulness in a project he calls “contemplative computing”. Wow. Alex just finished writing an article on this topic, using his own experience with weight loss as an example, and delving both into the past and into the future to come to some interesting conclusions. His paper is available here, and I’d love to know if anyone else out there has been thinking about this connection as well.

Maybe the modern-day version of the gong and the meditation cushion are the self-tracking app and the device that runs it?

Related Posts

CGM Show&Tell June 13 2023

Gary Wolf

June 13, 2023

I’ve been thinking for some time about the connection between self-tracking and mindfulness. At first glance they seem to be very different – picture the wired-up gadget wizard sitting next to the unadorned meditating guru. But step to the side and look from a different angle, and you may see meditation and self-tracking as two...

New Show&Tell Event: Tracking Blood Glucose

Gary Wolf

May 31, 2023

Please join us for an hour of short "QS Show&Tell" talks about diet and metabolic discoveries using personal science. This session will focus on minimally invasive blood glucose monitor and meal and activity tracking with Nutrisense.

Astronauts

Gary Wolf

February 23, 2023

We The Scientists, a new book by Amy Dockser Marcus, tells the story of a group of families who force research attention on a rare disease