Self-care apps want to make us happy. So why do they make us feel so bleak?

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It’s 2019: How are you tracking your happiness?

If you’re not already logging and quantifying your moods, don’t worryApple declared self-care apps the top app trend of 2018, and they’ve been growing in number by the month. There are thousands available to guide you along your happiness journey. And while it’s hard to come out against a pro-snacking, nap-positive app genre, the boom in self-care and digital wellness shouldn’t automatically be a cause for celebration. It’s a reason for pause  — and maybe even cause for concern, given the questionable quality of some of them. 

Take Happify, a subscription-based app that allows you to build your “happiness score” with a series of scientific-ish tests, and track your weekly happiness with quantitative analysis. Or Sanity & Self, which promises it can help you remain “mindfully productive” with a seven-day course and achieve your core purpose in life in just five sessions. As you work to improve your happiness:sadness ratio, consider setting reminders to meet your daily goal-of-choice using the lifestyle optimization app StridesRead more…

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