Spire - Technology Assisted Mindfullness?

So while I was doing some research on mindfulness for a lesson, I happened to stumble across this device called "Spire".

To summarize what it is, and claims to offer, it's a small wearable tracker which looks like a river stone, with a clip. You place it on your waistband, or bra strap, and it monitors your breathing and other vitals.

It's able to pinpoint when your'e calm, focused, or stressed. After you configure it, it can vibrate to remind you to breathe, and the tied in app not only give you a full overview of your stress/health through the day, but can take you on guided meditations when needed.

I find technology like this simply fascinating (I almost want to buy one and report on it), but I often wonder if it's really needed, and is a true evolution of these practices. Are we cluttering ourselves with these devices and feedback, or can they be used to grow? Thoughts on wearables like these, or experiences anyone would like to share?

my first impulse is that its gimmicky

a quality heart rate monitor is useful for for high level athletic training, (because you can monitor your exact rate which allows you to literally push yourself to the limits of your endurance) but anythingless than that i feel is something that youll be aware of naturally once you have made paying attention to your body and your feelings into a regular habit

i would even say thats the point of mindfulness, or a huge but of the point, is for us to maintain self awareness

it does occur to me that having this doodad wired into your brain or whatever might be a constant reminder, and in this it might help develop the habit, bit then again i think weve already got an alarm on our phnesthat can be set to go off every hr or 2 or whatever; the alarm goes off, breath, relax, feel.

so, while i like do the idea of doing whatever works to keep us in touch with our bodies and our mental states - i think this gadget isnt necessarily necessary

but thats only my opinion, others may have had great results with it

try it if you think its worth it!

To me... my idea is to unplug as often as possible. Not that I don't think this stuff is awesome, oh no friend, I used to box in an old dumpy bad smelling gym during the day times only, partly cuz I don't think it had electricity and partly cuz we all didn't ask questions like that, so seeing all this new stuff they got for the MMA fighters now, man those gym walls have pads and so do the floors. At the same time I can't bring my self to rely so much on not my own mind. To me... there are a lot of things that can occupy my own time. Connectivity is one. Some say humans only use ten percent of their brain. Others say ten percent only because we don't actually "think" all day we more just act automatically. This is one of my more personal focus es. To think more as often as I can. Once I started to think like this, holy- moley things began to happen. Things changed. Real things. In my real life. I was changing. The more I try to think and do think the more I realise there are a lot of things that "hold" our attention.
This is only my own opinion and I think I'm entitled to TWO and they are expected to stink so lol you know. You asked me there's my answer!

I'm no expert on matters of medical technology, but the way I understand it a device like that only measures heartbeat, at most blood pressure, too. It doesn't measure brain activity or oxygen levels, no waistband could. So if you're working out or it is a hot summer day, this thing would return that you are under stress or need to breathe more?
It at least doesn't sound dangerous, from what you describe, but it doesn't sound like a mindfulness machine either. It sounds like the regular grandpa's wrist blood pressure meter.

Cayce wrote: I find technology like this simply fascinating (I almost want to buy one and report on it), but I often wonder if it's really needed, and is a true evolution of these practices. Are we cluttering ourselves with these devices and feedback, or can they be used to grow? Thoughts on wearables like these, or experiences anyone would like to share?

If it works do it, just be sure it, and you, are doing what you think it is doing - it is easy to think one explanation is the case when actually another is. Having something vibrate according to what seems like an appropriate point to breath at sounds more like a distraction than an assistant.

I looked into these when I last bought an activity tracker.

Honestly they seem like gimmicky rubbish to me, the ultimate waste of money. If you think you need a device to tell you to be mindful, and then you buy one, all you're learning is to be mindful of the device.

The other features, tracking how calm or stressed you've been over a day... can't most people remember how their day went? isn't how you feel after all that the most important thing anyway? Plenty of people have stressful jobs, and sleep soundly after them. No device telling someone they're "too stressed" will change the fact people handle the same things differently.

So no, not for me

I could quote plenty of responses above (thank you to all for your awesome input), but to summarize, it feels that the majority is leaning towards the thought that while technology is awesome, it can get in the way.

Despite my technophile side, that's how I was feeling as well, but it's nice to hear how others phrase it. A large part of me likes the idea of a futuristic app / device nudging me when I could be doing better. Be it with mindfulness, meditation, eating, and so on.

Keep in mind, this isn't me asking if I should buy the above mentioned device at all, just wondering what we all think of said concepts. :laugh:

In the end, I suppose it boils down to the fact that we should be able to actually be mindful and control our own actions.

Continuing on this thread though, how can technology be used to compliment our studies and quests for improvement?

I've used a Jawbone tracker in the past, and I loved the data it gave me, and the 'idle' alert. It'd buzz if I hadn't moved in so long. But, I did stop wearing it after 6 months and haven't gone back.

Cayce wrote: ... how can technology be used to compliment our studies and quests for improvement?

I utilize a complex silicon-based information processing circuit that is connected to other machines of that type in a global communications network in order to access communication and information hubs called websites. TOTJO is one of them.

I've always wanted to walk around with an EEG on my head... perhaps under a hat :huh:
Record it all, correlate it to behaviours and thought, generally mess around! You can buy `em, but I'm yet to convince the sheboss.

Gisteron wrote: I utilize a complex silicon-based information processing circuit that is connected to other machines of that type in a global communications network in order to access communication and information hubs called websites. TOTJO is one of them.