Sue Thomas, author of Technobiophilia: Nature and Cyberspace, looks at how spiritual seekers are using apps and social media to enhance their meditation sessions. Consider Insight Timer, an app that offers guided meditations and connects users in real time across the globe:

So how does it feel to meditate alongside invisible people? Well if, like me, you’ve spent a lot of time in virtual worlds, gaming online, or even just chatting in Facebook, you’ll know that there can often be a strong sense of co-presence. During research for my book on technobiophilia, our love of nature in cyberspace, I found that as early as 1995 the Californian magazine Shambhala Sun described the internet as an esoteric place for meditation which provided “a feeling of complete and total immersion, in which the individual’s observer-self has thoroughly and effortlessly integrated.” I have felt that “experience of the moment” many times while using Insight Timer to spend time “on the cushion” alongside others in virtual space.

Previous Dish on technobiophilia here.