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Ok, maybe the title is a bit dramatic.

I ran across the WeCroak app, which is based on the Bhutanese folk saying that "to be a happy person, one must contemplate death five times daily". The app sends you five reminders at random times of the day to stop and think about death, using quotes or poems. The idea is that regularly doing this will put things in perspective on the grand scale.

But now my question to do...should we be spending more time contemplating death?

I’m torn on this one. Like, I see the benefits- seeing our life in perspective and through the lens of our ephemeral nature could make us be more thoughtful of our actions. Which is great if we want to make the most of our time or work towards something more lasting. I downloaded the app out of my own curiosity and it’s interesting to contemplate death in a way that isn’t so bleak. 

That said, I could see the potential damage something like this could cause. Constant reminders throughout the day that open with “Don’t forget, you’re going to die.” might not be healthy, particularly with how things are now. Covid, high tensions, a widespread hit to mental health, war. Obviously it’s an app so the user chooses to interact and that’s on them but I’m not sure this serves them any benefit if they are struggling otherwise. 

I’m torn on this one. Like, I see the benefits- seeing our life in perspective and through the lens of our ephemeral nature could make us be more thoughtful of our actions. Which is great if we want to make the most of our time or work towards something more lasting. I downloaded the app out of my own curiosity and it’s interesting to contemplate death in a way that isn’t so bleak.

That said, I could see the potential damage something like this could cause. Constant reminders throughout the day that open with “Don’t forget, you’re going to die.” might not be healthy, particularly with how things are now. Covid, high tensions, a widespread hit to mental health, war. Obviously it’s an app so the user chooses to interact and that’s on them but I’m not sure this serves them any benefit if they are struggling otherwise.

That's kind of where I am on it.  I see the benefits of it, since it's at times interesting to think of how finite things are compared to how infinite we imagine them to be, so those reminders are kind of like that "Oh yeah, my time is limited, so perhaps I should be doing something."  Not to mention, it can just bring up that idea of wondering what happens afterwards, that kind of stuff.

That being said, I definitely see where an app like that could act as a really bad trigger for someone with suicidal tendencies/thoughts that is on the cusp of doing said thing.  Whatever positive impact the app meant to have in its insightfulness in that moment becomes more of a push, possibly the push to get someone to actually go through with the act.

I'm terrified of death I think about it often and I don't think it's making me happy. What's Really the purpose of contemplating death though. When your dead there's nothing left of you so why are we worrying so much about it? And yet I find I often do. 

But thinking about death has led to several bad habits even. I spend money because I figure you can't spend it when you're dead so why save? I dunno I find this premise disturbing, why would contemplating a thing you largely hold no control over help you be happier?

I think the idea of contemplating death is to remember to live life to the fullest. When I think of death, the first thing that comes to mind is something I read back in the autumn, where people who were dying were asked their biggest regrets. In general they were:

1) I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
2) I wish I hadn't worked so hard.
3) I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.
4) I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
5) I wish I had let myself be happier.

We get so caught up in our day to day lives, sometimes we don't think beyond the short-term things because we all believe we'll live the life we want someday, and unless we're putting active work to it that probably won't be the case. Sometimes it's good to zoom out and see the big picture. Are we living a life that we'd be happy with or proud of at the end? If we were to die tomorrow, could we say we lived a full life? If most of our are being honest, including myself, probably not. We get so caught up in our fears and worries at the moment, but in 100 years who will know the difference anyways?

And yeah, this is a case of me not entirely practicing what I preach. I'm working on it. v_v

That being said, 5 times a day seems like overkill, and I agree that it's probably not good for someone who's in danger of self-harm to contemplate the idea. For me personally, I think seeing the occasional quote about it once in awhile, peppered in other quotes, is sufficient.

That said, I could see the potential damage something like this could cause. Constant reminders throughout the day that open with “Don’t forget, you’re going to die.” might not be healthy, particularly with how things are now. Covid, high tensions, a widespread hit to mental health, war. Obviously it’s an app so the user chooses to interact and that’s on them but I’m not sure this serves them any benefit if they are struggling otherwise.

Yeah, would be worried about people using this for digital self-harm.