Until recently, the digital dialogue has primarily focused on emerging products and services - what they can do for us, how they will change our lives, alter the workplace and redefine our relationships. It is only lately, however, that studies are being done on the ways in which digital media - and a generally digital world - can effect our psyches. A few back to back studies have confirmed what some of us must have intuited: that for many, our hyper-connectivity via Facebook and Twitter has a definitively negative impact on our well-being. Constantly knowing what our friends are doing makes us feel left out, guilty or lonely - sometimes all at once.
To counter the anxiety of this digital overload, students at the Stanford Institute of Design have enrolled in a class called "Designing Calm," in which they create mobile applications that can help embed some zen into our everyday devices. For instance, one doctoral student has invented an iPhone app called "Breathwear," a belt rigged with sensors to detect respiratory rate. If the user enters “e-mail apnea” — the affliction associated with a full in-box — an iPhone app provides an exercise that can restore optimal respiration. This kind of "calming tech" is designed to bring some balance to the world. Sort of an "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" kind of attitude.
As one of the professors mentions in the article, this does feel like a paradigm shift. We've all acknowledged the downsides of 24/7 availability, and we've all decided to buy in anyway. So now that we're all sufficiently wired to the point of no return, what can we do to maintain some sanity? Who's to say whether or not the applications that come out of Stanford will stick, but the very existence of a "Calming Technology Lab" on a prestigious campus has to be a good sign.
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