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Lucid Dreaming and Technology

echnology makes our lives easier. At the same time, it also makes our lives more complicated. It has extended our waking hours into the night, allowing us to enjoy fuller, more productive modern lives; but that same benefit can also disrupt our circadian rhythms and get in the way of an active dream life. And of course, technology has now entered our dreaming life as well, with similarly mixed effects.

New lucid dreaming devices using so-called electronic lucid dream induction technology promise lucid dreams on demand. These devices use stimulating cues—a flashing light, vibration, or sound—to alert the dreamer when he or she is in REM, the hope being that the dreamer will become aware, but not awaken, and have a lucid dream. One of these gadgets, the Dreamlight, shines a bright LED into the dreamer’s closed eyes; these lights often show up as a red dot within a dream. The idea is that the dreamer will learn to notice the signal and use it as a cue to become lucid.

This sounds fine at first—until we remember that REM doesn’t correlate directly to dreaming. REM, as we know from research, does not necessarily mean dreaming or lucid dreaming. Even if there is some correlation, it’s important to note that REM itself is hard to detect, unless you have a trained sleep specialist using electroencephalogram (EEG) machines that cost thousands of dollars. The simpler algorithms that lucid dreaming devices use to find out if we are in REM may be wildly inaccurate. Technology has yet to develop a suitable replacement for a sleep lab when it comes to detecting REM.

Another category of devices goes beyond mere signaling cues in response to presumed REM sleep. Instead, they use electrodes to produce small electrical currents in the frontal lobe to induce lucid dreams. There is some research to support this idea, but the data itself isn’t especially convincing. Further, there’s the comfort factor. Whatever may be gained from using one of these devices, there’s a trade-off with the discomfort of sleeping with electrodes on your forehead.

When it comes to technology to help induce lucid dreams, the best technology is still the most basic. Paper and pen (especially pens equipped with small LED lights for writing in the dark) are still the best way to record and reflect on lucid dreams. While audio cues and recorded meditations can also be effective tools, the techniques described in this book are a better way to consistently lucid dream than any technology yet developed. Personally, my list of lucid dreaming tech is pretty short:

• A vibrating alarm clock: I wear this on my wrist and get small vibrations based on preset alarms. I can wake up every few hours or set a time to wake up and perform WBTB.
• A sleep mask: This item does double duty as a sleep aid; it keeps light out, which stimulates melatonin production, and it serves as an excellent reality check. If I can see light or objects with a sleep mask on, then I can be sure I am dreaming and become lucid.
• A phone or tablet: A handy alternative to traditional pen and paper, ideal for when there isn’t a light to write by.

That’s it. No cumbersome gadgets. No potentially dangerous currents going through my brain. Just the bare minimum needed to practice awareness and recall. If you choose to take the high-tech route to practice becoming aware in dreams, that’s great, but over time it’s good to take off the training wheels and ride that lucid bike like a pro.