Soleil Ho is on a months-long journey toward better living through the wide world of self-help apps.
In the morning when I first grab my phone from the bedside table, I avert my eyes from what used to be the usual: all the text messages from night owl friends, elder Millennial memes, videos of people screaming, commentary about politics and meta-commentary about the commentary about politics. It was as unconscious as hygiene, though arguably without the cleansing factor that makes habits like brushing one’s teeth actually good for you.
Instead, I go straight to the bird that tells me how to be a person.
“Life may be scary, but I am brave,” reads an affirmation that pops up when I open the Finch app, which bills itself as the “self-care Tamagotchi,” a reference to the popular Japanese digital pet game from the ’90s. I can’t get past this screen until I note, on a five-emoji scale, how I’m feeling. I ponder this, then hit the 🙂 face — the 😐 one step down is actually the face I’m making, but it feels too grim, I guess.
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I’m absolutely a Luddite, and proudly so. But my nontechnological means of self-care have thus far been a bust. I’m almost defiant about all the little cheesy things, like journaling (ugh) or jogging (double ugh!), that have been........