FREE ONLINE EVENT: Mindfulness and the Addiction Economy
February 1, 2026
Buddhist Path, Meditation & Mindfulness, Online Programs
Program Start Date & Time: February 1st | 3:00 pm MT
Program End Date & Time: February 1st | 5:00 pm MT
Mindfulness and the Addiction Economy
We live in a time when our attention is constantly being pulled, packaged, and sold. What was once called the “attention economy” has now become the addiction economy—where endless scrolling, notifications, and digital distractions hook us into compulsive patterns that leave us dissatisfied and disconnected. We have lost touch with the simple joys of presence, meaningful connection, and being fully alive in the living world.
This program explores how mindfulness can serve not as an end in itself, but as a powerful means of liberation—a way to break free from the chains of the addiction economy and rediscover true satisfaction and happiness. Rather than reducing mindfulness to a quick fix or performance tool, we’ll return to its deeper roots: cultivating the clarity, compassion, and resilience to see through our conditioned cravings and open to genuine freedom.
Through this lens, mindfulness becomes a pathway toward restoring our humanity—reclaiming our time, attention, and capacity for presence so we can nurture what matters most: connection with ourselves, with others, and with the living world.
During this online event, Dave will share insights drawn from cognitive and behavioral science, emotional intelligence research, addiction psychology, and early Buddhist teachings (presented in a secular way). Participants will be invited to reflect, learn, and engage in practices that support stepping out of cycles of reactivity and stepping into lives of greater meaning and wholeness.
This program is open to anyone curious about the intersection of mindfulness, addiction, and authentic freedom.
Testimonials
“My retreat experience with Dave has been one of the profound and constructive things I’ve done in my life. For someone who has been practicing mindfulness for less than a year before sitting my first retreat with Dave, I found it to be very easy to understand yet very challenging with plenty of room for growth. Since then, I have sat at four different retreats of various lengths and can’t wait to sit more.” Vlad V Santa Cruz, CA
“I have been studying Buddhism for nearly 50 years. I highly recommend any chance to study with Dave. The seven-day retreat I did with Dave this summer was stellar. He brings his authentic, loving, humble, and unwavering focus to teaching. He is particularly adept at weaving in all the emotional intelligence. I found deeper access to self-kindness that has continued to inform my daily practice.” Lauren R Santa Fe, NM
Retreat Faculty
Dave Smith
For nearly 30 years, Dave Smith has held a practice rooted in the Insight Meditation (Vipassana) tradition. He was empowered to teach through the Against the Stream Buddhist Meditation Society, is a certified teacher for Cultivating Emotional Balance (CEB) which combines contemporary emotion based scientific research with contemplative practices and psychology drawn from Buddhism. Dave […]