Is digital Buddhism, which includes computer-assisted practices such as listening to podcasts and using meditation applications apps, authentic?
Some scholars have argued that digital Buddhism epitomizes Western appropriation and dilution of traditional Asian practices. Others such as the Slovenian cultural critic Slavoj Žižek perceive it as embodying the spirit of late capitalism. Žižek argues that like Karl Marx’s notion of religion as the opiate of the people, meditation apps are a way for people to feel good, but does nothing to change the economic relationships that are causing suffering.
