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I left my tech job to build a meditation app

troyshu.com

11–20 of 118 posts

Re: I left my tech job to build a meditation app

#11
post #9
post #2

Any good non-subscription mediation app out there?

If you can't afford it, you can get Waking Up for free. If you can afford it I think it's worth the price.

Waking Up is a great non-mystical type of meditation app. I strongly recommend checking this out if you’re at all turned off by the voodoo surrounding meditation.

Re: I left my tech job to build a meditation app

#12
post #6

I’ve downloaded a lot of mediation apps and they all seem same. Throw rhythmic breathing (maybe make it configurable, but not too configurable), mix in some simple animations, and the same Creative Commons gongs and bells, and call it a day. Hire some people to do some voice overs for “guided meditations”, and charge a $50 monthly subscription fee. I even started to make my own until I discovered you couldn’t get hap…

This post could’ve been about a to-do list app and it wouldn’t change the overall feeling of privilege from the author, all the best for him but you can’t pass this as some inspirational type of post

It’s pretty much a content free blog post. I’m surprised it ended up on the front page.

Re: I left my tech job to build a meditation app

#14
Thanks for sharing Troy! I imagine it's not easy to build in public and to write in public when you don't necessarily have it all figured out. Respect your willingness to put yourself out there as you figure it out, and looking forward to learning alongside you on your journey.

Re: I left my tech job to build a meditation app

#15

I’ve downloaded a lot of mediation apps and they all seem same. Throw rhythmic breathing (maybe make it configurable, but not too configurable), mix in some simple animations, and the same Creative Commons gongs and bells, and call it a day. Hire some people to do some voice overs for “guided meditations”, and charge a $50 monthly subscription fee. I even started to make my own until I discovered you couldn’t get hap…

It's nice to see a renewed public interest in meditation driving the trend of new meditation apps, but I feel that most of the apps miss the point. The act of meditating is marketed as an individualistic, prescriptive activity for stress and anxiety; it is absent any of the spiritual content that (for me) makes it potent.

To elaborate, I personally didn't get much out of meditation until I starting using it to sit with concepts like impermanence, non-attachment, and oneness from the Zen tradition.

By contrast, apps like Headspace are selling themselves like "feeling anxious? Try our app!" and getting corporate sponsorships for employers to give subscriptions to their employees, like a commodity to pacify a stressed out workforce.

But who knows, maybe it's still a net good in that it might introduce more people to the practice. And maybe some of the apps get deeper into the practice than the ones I used.

Re: I left my tech job to build a meditation app

#18

Why would you need to quit your job to make a meditation app? Can't you make one in a few days? They don't have any social elements etc, just an app that plays music and notifications.

and turn off and back on notifications and calls. and dim the screen. and collect the progres. and allow for intermediate "checkpoint" dings . and are flexibly configurable. and allow for guided meditations. definitively minimize power consumption.

etcetcetc

ps: for a backend think about collecting meditation statistics, and pulling in meditator networking, online meditation groups, running longitudinal meditation studies "how was your sit" and other parameters... if you eont put that into the meditation app you want the meditation app to send notifications to the other apps, so add events and notifications to the no-backend list above.

point being: its more than a timer and notifications.

Re: I left my tech job to build a meditation app

#20
post #19

Why would you need to quit your job to make a meditation app? Can't you make one in a few days? They don't have any social elements etc, just an app that plays music and notifications.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9224

this is my favorite response to something like this
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