So are we doomed then to always lose or train of thought online and to get sucked into endless streams of meaningless, scary or even harmful information? Luckily: no! Although there is an urban myth going round that the human attention span has dropped below that of a goldfish’s during the last decades², getting a little lost in your thoughts is perfectly normal for how human brains work. We all remember the moments when we went to the kitchen to grab paper towels, thought about work on the way there, and returned with a snack and no idea what we originally wanted.

A way to not let this natural tendency, combined with online temptations, build up to the dreaded Vortex is to work on our mindful attention. Various studies indicate that mindfulness training can decrease stress and increase overall well-being³, and even, through some mediating processes, foster creativity⁴. Although the corresponding long-term effects still need to be studied more⁵, these insights are very promising. People’s mindfulness levels even seem to determine whether social media use during work increases or decreases their emotional exhaustion: people with higher mindfulness decreased their exhaustion through social media and thus lowered their likeliness to experience burnout⁶.

But you might ask yourself: What is mindfulness in the first place? In the context of distractions and stress, it has become a popular buzzword, but few can give a thorough definition of what it actually means. In essence, the ideas of mindfulness and mindful attention are centered around consciously observing one’s thoughts and emotions, cultivating kindness toward oneself and others, as well as self-inquiry. This involves a mental presence in the moment which allows people to be aware and deliberate in what they are doing and where their mind is wandering, instead of spiraling off into a series of unconscious actions and thoughts.

Although this is just a very rough pass on the concept, it hopefully shows you that relaxation and stress reduction are not at the core of the idea. Lukoff et al.⁷, however, found that the most mindfulness apps on the market still get this point wrong: they mainly focus on relaxation training and implement gamification and challenge-functionalities to allow users to track their progress and compare their “achievements” to others. However, when asking Buddhists, Yogis and therapists, they claimed that these ideas of competition and reduction of the concept to relaxation are immediately at odds with the states of mind that will actually lead to mindfulness.

According to these experienced practitioners, an in ideal mindfulness training, whether in-person, through online workshops or an app, should provide a safe environment for participants, make mindfulness practices very easily accessible with no additional tools or gadgets needed and should not ever sell the idea of a quick fix. True mindfulness is a lifelong practice that is never conclusively “achieved”. Instead, it keeps teaching us to be more compassionate, patient and aware of our own thoughts, emotions and needs.