Breathe, You Are Online
You Don’t Need to Log Off to Tune In
The first time I saw a monk on a smartphone, I did a double take.
I was at Plum Village—the mindfulness monastery founded by Thich Nhat Hanh—expecting bells and bamboo. I got that. But I also got… WiFi.
Yes. There was a WiFi room.
Yes. The monks used it.
I could’ve sworn one even had notifications on. (Now that’s advanced practice.)
I wandered in one day, curious. The space was simple. Quiet. A desk. A few devices. And on the wall, above it all, a single calligraphy by Thich Nhat Hanh.
“Breathe, You Are Online.”
Black ink. White paper. Nothing else.
It hit me like a gong in the ribs.
Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Zen master once nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Martin Luther King Jr., had a way of saying simple things that changed everything.
Because how often are we online—but not really there?
Breathing, but not with our breath.
Scrolling, but not really feeling.
Present, but only in pixels.
Why This Matters (And What the Data Shows)
A new study of 2,737 college students looked at their use of social media—not just how much, but why.
Turns out, it’s not just screen time that matters. It’s intention.
Researchers found that the more students turned to social media to self-soothe—chasing a dopamine lift or trying to quiet discomfort—the more likely they were to experience symptoms of anxiety and depression.
But here’s where it gets interesting:
Students who scored higher in mindfulness—who could notice what they were feeling without spiraling into judgment—were less affected by emotional scrolling.
Mindfulness didn’t erase the urge.
But it softened the sting.
Even when using social media for comfort, more mindful students reported fewer symptoms of depression and anxiety.
It wasn’t about scrolling less.
It was about scrolling differently.
Micropractice #5 Mindful Scrolling
A Practice for the Feed
Next time your thumb flicks instinctively toward that app:
Breathe.
Feel the phone in your hand.
Feel the breath in your body.
Neither is wrong. Neither is bad.
They’re just here.
Ask gently:
“What am I reaching for right now?”
You don’t need to change anything.
You don’t even need to put the phone down.
You’re just being with yourself.
Scroll if you wish.
But this time, do it with care.
Let one post meet your awareness fully—
A sentence, an image, a sound.
Pick one post. One sound. One color.
Let it land like a raindrop on your attention.
Then let it go.
That’s it. That’s the practice.
Not to fix.
Not to force.
Just to notice—kindly, gently—what’s already here.
And in that noticing, you may find:
Even in the feed, there is space.
Even in the scroll, there is stillness.
Even online, you can come home to yourself.
Why It’s Worth It
Mindfulness doesn’t mean giving up your phone.
It means waking up to how you’re using it.
With just a breath of awareness, we start to interrupt the scroll—not to force it to stop,
but to meet it gently.
Not with judgment.
But with kindness.
Plum Village got it right:
There was no shame in going online.
There was just a reminder on the wall to breathe while you do it.
Our lives may be louder, messier, and far from monastic.
But even here, in the feed, in the noise, in the swirl of hot takes and highlight reels…
Presence is still possible.
And sometimes, all it takes is a single, mindful swipe.
Even online.
Especially online.
The Micro Memo is your weekly reminder:
Well-being doesn’t have to mean more hours. Sometimes it’s just better seconds.
If this landed, send it to a friend who could use a breath between swipes.
And if you try the practice, feel free to reply and tell me what you noticed. I read every message.
With warmth and Wifi,
Eli
Founder, The Micro Memo
Micropractice.com
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This is fantastic! Something we should all be thinking about.
I like this - feels like a more realistic version of using your phone less, that produces very similar results.