Mindfulness in a Digital World

Using a lens of mindfulness, this book explores how digital dependencies  can displace attention and undermine attentional control, leading to  experiences of stress and mindless involvement with digital technology.  Using qualitative interviews with teachers and students of mindfulness  programmes, the book explores the challenges and opportunities for  reconciling digital interactions with mindful practice. A  phenomenological analysis of participants’ digital experiences shows  three different imperatives (relating to digital capabilities,  hyper-reality and algorithms), that can drive unconscious forms of  interaction and encourage a delegation of attentional control that draws  users away from the present moment. The book concludes by exploring the  implications of these (extra-conscious) imperatives for understanding  digital addiction. It also provides a set of guidelines for a digital  approach to mindfulness practice that can encourage beneficial  relationships with digital technology into the future.