A New App Is Using Art to Help You Feel Better

On an average weekday morning, I spend my early waking hours on my phone, toggling between as many as a dozen apps—checking my email, or dating prospects, or how well I slept—while also watching the news on TV and asking Alexa to tell me the weather or play music. I never stop to consider how this cacophony of content might be negatively affecting my mood or inciting stress. But now, there’s an app that aims to change such behaviors—by feeding us digital content that research says should make us feel better.

Launching today for iOS and Android, and in the form of audio content for Google Home and Amazon Alexa, the new Moodrise app promises to deliver what its founder, Michael Phillips Moskowitz (previously chief global curator at eBay), calls “digital nutrition.” Moodrise presents curated packages of photos, videos, graphics, sounds, music, and art, with the intention of helping to alleviate anxiety and other mood disorders, and maximize happiness. Through regular use—like how you might employ the meditation apps Headspace or Calm—it’s also meant to encourage us to develop healthier habits when it comes to using our phones, streaming videos, and even listening to music and podcasts. …Read More