Tech Yourself, Don’t Wreck Yourself

These new apps have wellness and inclusion woven into their development and aim to help us connect with others and with ourselves without sacrificing our privacy or principles.

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Apps help us complete daily tasks, organize our calendar, connect with people around the world, or blow off steam with a little entertainment. Others vie for our attention with pinging notifications and endless feeds. These apps were designed with wellness and inclusion at their core to help us connect authentically online—without sacrificing privacy or principles.

3 Mindful Apps for Genuine Connection

1) Blackfullness

With the new app Blackfullness, founders Sonia Russell and David Walker aim to highlight the ways African Americans are already practicing mindfulness—though they may not call it or think of it as such. The app welcomes users into regular and customizable practice, where Black folks can experience the benefits of stress reduction and awareness. “ It’s the love we have for humanity that is really driving us,” Walker told The Root.

2) Marco Polo

In recent years, social media users have been surprised with reports about the collection and selling of their data by platforms like Facebook. Video-based social media app Marco Polo offers an alternative. “We do not run third-party ads because our community of Marco Polo members is our customers, and that’s who we work to support,” says Vlada Bortnik, the company founder. Users send private video messages to friends and family, and people can reply when it’s convenient for them, helping loved ones connect without sharing their personal information.

3) Morale

Most of us have bemoaned the negativity that thrives on social media at one point or another. A new app on the market aims to be the antidote. With the Morale app, users send anonymous positive affirmations to a customized network of friends. Backed by science that shows that giving a compliment boosts the mood of both the giver and receiver, users are encouraged to send five messages of positivity per day.

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Black woman in a yellow T-shirt smiling down at her meditation subscription with a yellow studio background.
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  • Janet Ho
  • May 14, 2021