Digital technologies raise psychological and socio-economic questions about consciousness, selfhood, and ethics. This article proposes a framework called contemplative media studies, which combines critical political-economic media scholarship focused on justice and structural reform, media and religious scholarship examining digital culture and religious identity, and contemplative studies applying contemplative principles to research. The framework analyzes the spiritual ideology behind commercial digital platforms and asks whether alternative platforms could better support human development. Grounded in a commitment to socio-economic justice, contemplative media studies aims to articulate an ethically responsive and economically sustainable architecture for human flourishing.
An integral model combining third-person empirical perspectives with first-person subjective experience is proposed for studying virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) technologies. The model offers a comparative analysis of immersive VR platforms and lucid dreaming, based on a discursive analysis of technologists' statements and a review of lucid dreaming literature. Dream research is identified as highly relevant to VR development, serving as a catalyst for ethical critique of emerging commercial technologies. The approach, informed by Buddhist philosophy but primarily secular, draws on moral-developmental psychology and contemplative studies, exemplifying Contemplative Media Studies.