"Tech offers a non-threatening solution, including tools and strategies that we can try out without having to admit to others that we are struggling.”
I'm so incredibly proud of my amazing business partner Dr Felicity Baker who is featured in this article in The Independent. 🤩
It's a fascinating exploration of whether tech solutions are the answer to stress. Can they help to alleviate the symptoms of stress without the need for therapy?
Dr Felicity Baker argues that “Tech offers a non-threatening solution, including tools and strategies that we can try out without having to admit to others that we are struggling.”
And, yes, apps and the like can help to train you to pay better attention to your bodily sensations, thoughts, emotions and breathing.
But do we really need tech to increase our self-awareness?
Surely we had the capacity to learn about our triggers and symptoms of stress well before tech solutions came along. We just learnt this stuff through books or classes or articles instead. We don't need to pay for expensive bits of kit to do this.
And like many of life's problems and challenges, simply sticking a small disc on your wrist or clicking on an app is is unlikely to resolve the variety of factors that contribute to stress - work issues, poor sleep or diet, family problems.
The idea that we can just press a button or open an app and all our problems will quietly slip away is a fantasy that the tech industry peddles to sell it's products.
“Tech solutions can never replace or replicate the role of social relationships in helping people to manage stress. When we connect with people we trust, we feel calm and safe, and this naturally helps to reduce the sympathetic nervous system arousal that is linked to stress.”
Dr Felicity Baker, The Independent, 24 August, 2023