Ask HN: Do you use a mood tracker / journalling app? Why/why not?

2 points by zaksingh 6y ago ↗ HN

I've bounced between paper notebooks, Apple's notes app, and have recently begun looking at apps designed specifically for journalling and/or mood tracking. Is there a better alternative? Is it even worth the time investment?

3 comments

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billconan 6y ago ↗

I do not. I can't self heal. I need to talk to others.

randomor 6y ago ↗

I do. Went so far as creating an app for it cos I can’t stand using note taking apps or other badly designed tools. It’s called ZenJournal: https://thezenjournal.com/

analyticascent 6y ago ↗

I use an app that has that as a feature, but I personally never utilize it.

The main reason is that each time I take a moment to "think" about how I feel, my mood changes accordingly.

In a way it's like a self-inflicted Hawthorne Effect when I try to consciously track my mood.

[caveats to the Hawthorne Effect: https://www.nber.org/papers/w15016.pdf]

Another issue is that I'm not sure what to do with the information such an app feature would generate. For many, mood is the result of things that aren't within their control.