An ebook reader (ideally not an app but a separate device that is only for reading books).
Ask HN: What are some mentally healthy apps to have?
51–60 of 236 posts
Re: Ask HN: What are some mentally healthy apps to have?
#52Extremely unpopular opinion from a software engineer on a tech forum but: mental health is as far away from the Internet as possible. The more you can integrate the slower pace of nature and natural life, the better your mental health. Your physical presence is optimised for long days of doing fuck all, sitting in the grass, waiting for a deer to pass by. Still struggling with this, but my long term life goal is livi…
Did I misread? Wouldn't you want "middle of nowhere with no easy access to the ... Internet"?
No, the Internet is fun, in moderation, and it pays the bills. But then I want to switch off, step outside my front door and sit in the grass, soothed by the sound of insects, birds and wind.
Re: Ask HN: What are some mentally healthy apps to have?
#53RunKeeper's icon makes me remember I run. So I sit with better posture, maybe eat a little better. Because I will be less happy on my next run if I don't. Having that help with my physical health benefits my mental health pretty directly.
Re: Ask HN: What are some mentally healthy apps to have?
#54Extremely unpopular opinion from a software engineer on a tech forum but: mental health is as far away from the Internet as possible. The more you can integrate the slower pace of nature and natural life, the better your mental health. Your physical presence is optimised for long days of doing fuck all, sitting in the grass, waiting for a deer to pass by. Still struggling with this, but my long term life goal is livi…
> waiting for a deer to pass by
We don't know everything about the era that shaped our bodies, there are a few contradicting narratives:
One being that we were mainly scavengers during the time that our brains grew to this size, especially savoring the marrow of the large bones of the large animals that used to roam the earth before we finished them off and had to look for other sources of highly nutritious foodstuffs. [1]
Another (albeit questioned) is that we hunted prey by running them to exhaustion, so called persistence hunting - a far cry from "waiting for deer to pass by" [2].
Some do argue that the preagricultural societies seemed to have plenty of leisure however [3], so you might be right :-).
But the larger point is if we would be mentally more healthy if we stuck to the old ways of hunting mammoths - or if we are first and foremost adaptable ... I guess my penny is on the latter, within reason.
[1] https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/evidence-f...
[2] https://undark.org/2019/10/03/persistent-myth-persistence-hu...
[3] https://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/for-95-percent-of-human...
Re: Ask HN: What are some mentally healthy apps to have?
#55 - Duolingo
- Chess apps (My favorite is Really Bad Chess, where everyone is given the same randomized board and tries to beat the computer once a day)
- Wordle and variations (my favorite is Tradle, given the export data, guess the country)
- BeReal (the only social media I enjoy)
- Niche review apps (I like HappyCow for reviewing restaurants with vegan/veg options)
Re: Ask HN: What are some mentally healthy apps to have?
#56I've just been using Instagram as a place to browse art. I think you can't really unfollow toxic people (you technically can but your brain won't let you). But what you can do is flood it out with positive vibes. My Instagram feed is full of e-commerce memes, AI generated art, and hand drawn dungeon maps. It's not exactly useful but it keeps me inspired for the next day.
Tangential but what are your favorite e-commerce meme accounts?
Re: Ask HN: What are some mentally healthy apps to have?
#57- Inoreader, with few sources such as BBC that don't focus on sensationalism
- Lichess
I dropped all the social media except for Twitter, just because I use it really rarely (less than once per day)
Re: Ask HN: What are some mentally healthy apps to have?
#58Extremely unpopular opinion from a software engineer on a tech forum but: mental health is as far away from the Internet as possible. The more you can integrate the slower pace of nature and natural life, the better your mental health. Your physical presence is optimised for long days of doing fuck all, sitting in the grass, waiting for a deer to pass by. Still struggling with this, but my long term life goal is livi…
> mental health is as far away from the Internet as possible. I don't think it's the internet, exactly. But anywhere on the internet where your attention has been commoditized. Basically - if you aren't paying to use the app (and it's not decent open source software), get that fucking cancer out of your device. Just the basics: messages, calls, GPS, maps, shared connection, photos/videos those make one awesome, compe…
Turning off notifications - all notifications - helps quite a bit. It's a lot easier to ignore attention-grabbing apps when they can't put their attention grabbing alerts in front of you.
I have an iPad explicitly configured this way, and it's incredibly relaxing to use it.
Re: Ask HN: What are some mentally healthy apps to have?
#59Sorry if this sounds blunt but the question is a bit like "what's the least harmful kind of crack I can get to improve my health?" From the way it's phrased it sounds like you're struggling with mental health and excessive phone/devise usage. The two issues might be related, my advice would be no app.
I’ve been stuck in bed due to medical stuff quite a bit over the last year. My iPhone has essentially preserved my sanity. Like any powerful tool, the user can can choose to make it good or bad. I learned quite a bit about music theory and writing music over the last year. The iOS music ecosystem is fantastic and affordable. I’ve been drawing in procreate on my iPad for several years but this also helped pass the hou…
> The iOS music ecosystem is fantastic and affordable.
I've been having good experiences recently with Flip for some quick fun jams.
Any suggestions of the "fantastic" kind ?
Re: Ask HN: What are some mentally healthy apps to have?
#60I find this value in this one https://www.wakingup.com/ from Sam Harris