I’m somewhat shocked about this one, an app for your phone reminding us 5 times a day that we’re going to die. Wow. I felt like death was my constant companion when I was in Critical Care Medicine where mortality was always in question. The nurses joked that they would give me a black cape for making rounds (typical gallows humor in the medical workplace).
But someone has created this app and for only 99 cents one can get an (annoying) mortality reminder although I doubt anyone our age could possibly need it. Perhaps though there is an argument though that the generations below us could benefit – probably the millennials for sure.
In the NYT: “WeCroak, Mr. Bergwall said, was born of Bhutanese folklore saying that to be happy, one ought to contemplate death five times a day. For the more than 9,000 users of WeCroak, most in their 20s and 30s, he said, there is no time like the moment to get a grip on life by embracing mortality.
“Hovering near the top of the App Store’s paid health and fitness chart, the app, which I first read about in The Atlantic, is an exhortation to mindfulness. “Meditation urges you to focus on your breath,” Mr. Bergwall said. ‘It’s the same thing with remembering that you’re mortal. You forget, so you need something strong, someone telling you straight out, being blunt about it.’”