User Experience + Mindfulness

Ideas

I’ve found useful insights for our collective future at the intersection of mindfulness, design, and technology, and I’m not afraid to share them.

Our Lives Are Becoming Comfortable Illusions

We call rapid proliferation on the internet “going viral” for a reason: Ideas spread online exponentially, like viruses. Where viruses hijack our biology, viral memes hijack our minds. In both cases, problems arise when we can’t adapt quickly enough. Our systems… Read More on Modus

A Sustainable Rhythm for Lean UX Sprints.

By now, you’ve probably heard about GV’s Design Sprint process. Jake Knapp and colleagues have effectively married the best of design and product thinking into…

Read More (5 min read)


The Joy of Being an Attention Activist

Jay views all the accomplishments of the many projects he’s brought to life- as well as the harm and suffering that continues to arise out of our collective struggle to relate with technology in a healthy way- as design challenges. In this episode, Jay shares how the lens of design can be used to find balance, mindfulness, and joy.

Listen to the Podcast (50 mins)

Mindfulness, Tech and Attention Activism

A talk outlining the unintended consequences of technology, how technologists need to consider the broader impact our work, and why mindfulness has a very important role to play in the future. From the Toronto UX Speaker Series at the Bahen Centre for Information Technology at the University of Toronto.

Watch the Talk (64 mins)

Searching for Meaning with Jay Vidyarthi

Ever wonder what it would be like to quit everything to find more meaning and purpose? Our guest did just that when he and his wife abandoned city life and moved into a monastery. They came back with some life-altering surprises. We discuss living with intention, monastic life, and questioning our inner stories.

Listen to the Podcast (77 mins)


Talks

Design as Attention Activism
Harvard Symposium: Tech-Assisted Meditation: Boston, USA

AI and Mindfulness
Mindful Society Global Institute

Helping Teams Navigate Through Crisis
NYU Stern Business School w/ Amy Blankson and Nina Hersher

How Technologies Create Happiness
UN World Summit on the Information Society

Round: Reclaiming Your Attention Through Mindfulness
Round Community for Tech Leadership

Practical Mindfulness for Everyday Life
RoundGlass Live

Two Promising Avenues for Tech-Aided Mindfulness Practice: Ultrasonic Neuromodulation and Advanced AI
Mindful Society Global Institute w/ Shinzen Young

Technology for Mindfulness and Compassion
World Happiness Fest 2021

Tech for Becoming
Mindful Society Global Institute w/ Holly Rogers, Lawrence Ampofo, Jose Montemayor Alba, Toby Sola, Nicole Taylor

Cultivating Purpose in Uncertain Times
Healthy Minds Innovation Webinar w/ Richie Davidson

Mindfulness in the Exponential Age
University of Toronto Knowledge Hub

Panel: Virtual Connection Is Possible
Mindful Society Global Institute

Humanity-Centered Design: Putting Those You Serve at the Heart of Your Design Process
Transformative Technology Conference 2019, Palo Alto, USA

The Spirit of Leadership - Culminating Panel
A Mindful Society 2019, Toronto, ON

Reimagining Work in the Age of AI - Post-Keynote Panel
TECHNA Symposium 2019, Toronto, ON

Design Ethics and Machine Learning
Design + AI Panel @ Normative, Toronto, ON

Mindfulness, Technology and Attention Activism
TUX Speaker Series, University of Toronto, ON

UX/UI for Transformative Tech Products
Transformative Tech Academy 2019 (w/ David Ngo)

Design Thinking at A Mindful Society
A Mindful Society 2017, Toronto, ON

The Future of UX is Ours to Shape
UX Award Winner Showcase, Huge Agency, Toronto, ON

Not User, but Human-Centered Design
The Lavin Agency, Toronto, ON
RED Talks, Toronto, ON

Technology and the Mind: What is Lost and What is Gained
Myplanet Meetup, Toronto, ON

Muse: the first human-centered brain sensing technology
MIT Enterprise Forum: Future of UX, NYC, USA. 
Toronto Tech Summit. Toronto, ON.
FITC Wearables. Toronto, ON.
CES 2015. Las Vegas, USA. 

Q&A: How to design and build brain-sensing applications
Thoughtworks Hardware Hack Lab, NYC, USA. 

The ethics of mediating meditation
Consciousness Hacking, NYC, USA. 

Mindfulness and Design Thinking
A Mindful Society 2015. Toronto, ON. 

UX Lessons from Creating a New Product Category
UX Awards 2014, San Francisco, USA

InteraXon and Muse: Panel Discussion
We Are Wearables September. Toronto, ON.

Empathy and Experience Design.
Consciousness Hacking @ Noisebridge. San Francisco, USA.

Muse Calm: Exhibition.
Wisdom 2.0. San Francisco, USA.
CES 2014. Las Vegas, USA.

Brain-Sensing Technology.
Screens 2013. Toronto, Canada.

Sonic Cradle: Evoking Mindfulness through “Immersive” Interaction Design
SFU Thesis Defence. Vancouver, Canada.

Could an Interactive Medium Introduce Non-Practitioners to Mindfulness?
1st International Conference on Mindfulness. Rome, Italy.

Mediated Meditation: Cultivating Mindfulness with Sonic Cradle
CHI 2013. Paris, France.

Digital Brands and the Proverbial “Used-Car Salesman”
Invited Panelist at Digital-Day 2012. Toronto, Canada.

Sonic Cradle: Designing for an Immersive Experience of Meditation by Connecting Respiration to Music
DIS 2012. Newcastle, England.

Encouraging Meditation through Respiratory-Musical Interaction
GRAND 2012. Montreal, Canada.

Sonic Cradle: Installation for Attendee Use (and Data Collection)
TEDActive 2012. Palm Springs, USA
SIAT Open House 2012. Vancouver, Canada.
UCLA - Chronic Pain: Art & Science Collaborations. Los Angeles, USA.

Your Questions Have Answers: Users’ Experience of Mobile Marketing
Invited Speaker at Marketing Magazine Conference on Mobile Marketing, 2011. Montreal, Canada.

Characterizing Immersion Across Literature, Art and Interactive Media
Society of Literature, Science and Art 2011. Kitchener, Canada.
SIAT Graduate Colloquium (Fall 2011). Vancouver, Canada.

Sympathetic Guitar: Can a Digitally-Augmented Guitar be a Social Entity?
CHI 2011. Vancouver, Canada.
SIAT Spring Showcase 2011. Vancouver, Canada.

How Can We Make a more Human-Centered Flight Experience?
TEDActive 2011. Palm Springs, California, USA.

Rich Internet Resources: Designing Web-Based Information Archives
European Congress on Digital Archiving 2010. Geneva, Switzerland.

Enhancing the Mobile Interface.
Panelist at Mobile Monday Montreal on Nov 2nd, 2009. Montreal, Canada.

Designing Alphanumeric Input for iTV in a Search Context
iTV in Industry Track at EuroITV 2009. Leuven, Belgium.

Technology’s Potential to Expand Human Communication
ChitChat 2009. Montreal, Canada.

Issues in Driver Distraction
World Usability Day, 2008. Montreal, Canada.

Podcasts / Interviews

Tech, Meditation and Leaving a Legacy
After School Podcast

Architected Compassionate Human Experiences
Humanity Rising Series, Ubiquity University w/ Jenova Chen

Tech and Becoming Better People
Braving the Elements w/ Tracy James

On the Power of Mindfulness
Be Well, Do Well w/ Amin Ahmed

Humanity-Centered Design
Heroes of Reality

The Joy of Being an Attention Activist
Joy of Missing Out Podcast w/ Christina Crook

Year Zero: The Beginning
The First in a Series of Conversations When the Pandemic Hit

In Case You Didn’t Notice, Attention is Key to Your Well-being
The Big Life w/ Lina and Ingrid, Full Service Radio

Attention Activism with Jay Vidyarthi
Technology for Mindfulness with Robert Plotkin

How Do We Create Mindful Societies w/ Jay Vidyarthi
Brain By Design Podcast

Leaning Into The Right Level Of Discomfort w/ Jay Vidyarthi
KYO Conversations with Marc Champagne

Jay V. Attention Activist, Designer, Mindful Technologist
Catching Z's Podcast: The Millennials Guide to Mindfulness

Searching for Meaning w/ Jay Vidyarthi
Soulspace Podcast

Mindfulness as Attention Activism
Digital Mindfulness Podcast

Live Interview with TTA Mentor Jay Vidyarthi
Transformative Technology Academy (FB Live)

The Importance of Mindfulness
Make Me A Leader - Documentary Appearance

Keep Calm: the science and business of handling stress
CBC Radio Specials (segment at 39 mins)

Mindfulness Activism: Podcast Interview
Casual Strides Radio

CKNW Health: The Future of Meditation
CKNW AM730 Radio Vancouver

Canadian Project lands spot at TEDActive 2012 (available in FR)
CBC/Radio-Canada

Jay Vidyarthi on Connection Through Music
SoundFly


Articles

How I Reconciled Past Pain Through Mindfulness
RoundGlass

5 Ways to Reimagine Life in Quarantine
Mindful Magazine

Binge-watching the Stories In Your Head
Mindful Magazine

In the Attention Economy, Mindfulness is Activism
Mindfulness and Meditation on Medium

You can't strangle a flower from a seed.
Mindfulness and Meditation on Medium

Tech & Advertising Are Not Evil
On Advertising

How the Scottish Highlands inspired us to leave Toronto for a residential mindfulness center.
Mindfulness and Meditation on Medium

From Curiosity to Compassion: Why we share mindfulness with those around us.
A Mindful Society

A love letter to you, lonely creator.
Medium

Is AI messing up your relationship with music?
Medium

Design Thinking at A Mindful Society: the story so far
A Mindful Society

Why Isn’t Tristan Harris Talking About Mindfulness?
Medium

“Fake News” is Meta-Propaganda
Medium

How to Curb Your Tech Addiction
Medium

Acceptance is Not Surrender
Mindfulness and Meditation on Medium

What’s the best way to introduce mindfulness to youth?
A Mindful Society

All men can take some responsibility for "me too" and help change the culture.
Medium

4 steps to bring mindfulness to work without it becoming a fad
A Mindful Society

How much cake is in your coffee?
Medium

Talking about mindfulness to diverse groups with a unified community
A Mindful Society

A guideline for public mindfulness programs: never claim truth
Mindfulness and Meditation Medium Collection

Why Would Anyone Use Technology for Meditation?
Muse Blog

Understanding your Muse Session Results
Muse Blog

BrainSketching: Collaborative Interaction Design
User Experience Magazine

Is the Centralized Hospital Obsolete?
TechVibes

Four Ways to Bring UX into an Early-Stage Startup.
TechVibes

Designing for Control: Lessons from the TEDActive Travel Project.
SparkSheet

Have Love, Will TRAVEL.
TEDActive

This is not an “Information Revolution”
Yu Centrik

How to Design Social Media Interfaces for the Irrational Human Mind
SocialTimes

6 Rules to Balance Science and Art in UX Design
Yu Centrik

Airplanes ARE Social Media: Interaction Design In Flight
Sparksheet