Screen time reports are through the roof and people are on edge. With everything online—from work and school to yoga classes and cocktail parties—it feels impossible not to be attached to your screen every waking hour.

The physical and mental strain of being stuck to our screens all day is taking a toll on our wellness—added to the enormous stress from the sheer “logistics” of the COVID-19 pandemic (lost jobs and wages, closed schools and kids at home, fear of illness and death, grief of losing loved ones, feelings of isolation while being sheltered in place…), it nearly feels like too much to bear.

Incidentally, people are increasingly turning to mindfulness and meditation to help ease this strain. We’ve long heard from professionals that a meditation practice is good for our health. And it seems that we’ve finally caught on.

In a recent episode of his popular podcast, Sam Harris discusses why a meditation practice is no longer a luxury, but a necessity. More and more, media outlets, medical professionals, and even celebrities are promoting meditation as a tried-and-true, no-BS way to get through this very real health and economic crisis.  

It follows that meditation apps and digital mindfulness tools are seeing a huge surge in download and usage. And the companies that create them are stepping up, making their services free and curating special packages designed to specifically help with COVID-19-related problems

Meditation service Simple Habit announced on March 18 that they’ll offer their entire platform for free for those in financial need. Plus, they created a targeted “Ease your coronavirus anxiety” collection of meditations, focusing on things like easing anxiety, managing parenting stress, falling asleep, and overcoming fear of falling ill. 

Possibly the most popular meditation app available, Headspace has made some key stress-relieving meditations free, and they’re offering their entire app (with hundreds of meditations) completely free to healthcare professional and to educators. 

Some tech-oriented organizations, too, are taking action to mitigate the side effects of spending all day on the screen. The Digital Wellness Collective, an organization created to encourage the intentional and healthy use of technology, is offering a seminar on digital wellness.

Mental health was already becoming a growing priority in the workplace for many companies, and the global, communal wave of stress, depression, and anxiety due to the coronavirus pandemic seems to be pushing mental health to the forefront. Headspace has created a special, free Headspace for Work package for managers and employers—full of guides to managing and dealing with work stress during this time. Even Harvard Business Review is reporting on why leaders need meditation more than ever.

It may be that a global pandemic, this shared experience of fear and grief, may be the very things inspires us to value mental and emotional wellness just as we do physical health. Perhaps all of those people downloading Headspace for pandemic-stress relief won’t ditch meditation when life returns to status quo. In Scott Berinato’s wildly popular and widely shared (can we use the colloquial term “viral” yet?) Harvard Business Review article, That Discomfort You’re Feeling Is Grief, grief expert David Kessler says it best: 

“It helps us feel what’s inside of us.”

Links to related articles

• Meditation Benefits and Stories