Hype Around Meditation
ServiceSpace
--Mark Jacobs
1 minute read
Nov 28, 2011

 

A comment I had posted on Rahul's article about the hype around meditation and the iPhone ... "The nice thing about both meditation and the iPhone is that both are genuinely good tools; it’s hard to really criticize either. They generally work as advertised, have real utility, and create a nice user experience. Even with this appreciation, I have never found either to be so compelling as to harbor any desire to incorporate them into my life. Unfortunately, this doesn’t insulate me from having to endure endless proselytizing chatter from fans of both at just about any social occasion. Frankly, it’s getting to the point that I like to imagine a world where neither meditation or iPhones existed. It seems a shame when the excellence and fascination of a thing are overwhelmed by the ubiquity and banality of the hype.In our consumer society, it seems impossible to have a product without constant advertising. Where commercialism establishes both our memes and the tropes, way too much private conversation has transformed into viral advocacy and promotion. Steve Jobs will, of course, be thrilled that his customers have turned into his advertisers. But are serious devotees of meditation really comfortable having their treasured practice shilled like this? Seems so."

 

Posted by Mark Jacobs on Nov 28, 2011