Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Of all the potential effects of using smartphones, the one that seems to inspire the most anxiety is what scrolling could be doing to people’s attention. On social media (ironically), many people express a desire to “heal” their attention spans from the damage they feel technology has done. They’re picking up on something real. In one 2025 study (academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/article/4/2/pgaf017/8016017?login=false) , researchers found that blocking the internet on people’s phones for two weeks led to improvements in sustained attention equivalent to reversing 10 years of cognitive decline.
In this final episode of How to Touch Grass, host Julie Beck embarks on an experiment to see if she can heal her own attention span. Beck and co-host Natalie Brennan also hear from Jenny Odell, the author of How to Do Nothing and Saving Time, about how Odell’s antagonism for her phone actually helped her make peace with it, and how nature can teach us to pay deeper attention to the world around us.
Subscribe to the “How to Touch Grass” podcast on Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-to-age-up/id1587046024
Subscribe to the “How to Touch Grass” podcast on Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/44vtkPicxYPd5SJDvr8SCy
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Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Atlantic subscribers also get access to exclusive subscriber audio in Apple
Podcasts.
Subscribe today:
accounts.theatlantic.com/products/?utm_medium=cr&utm_source=podcast&utm_campaign=apple_podcasts
Of all the potential effects of using smartphones, the one that seems to inspire the most anxiety is what scrolling could be doing to people’s attention. On social media (ironically), many people express a desire to “heal” their attention spans from the damage they feel technology has done. They’re picking up on something real. In one 2025 study (academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/article/4/2/pgaf017/8016017?login=false) , researchers found that blocking the internet on people’s phones for two weeks led to improvements in sustained attention equivalent to reversing 10 years of cognitive decline.
In this final episode of How to Touch Grass, host Julie Beck embarks on an experiment to see if she can heal her own attention span. Beck and co-host Natalie Brennan also hear from Jenny Odell, the author of How to Do Nothing and Saving Time, about how Odell’s antagonism for her phone actually helped her make peace with it, and how nature can teach us to pay deeper attention to the world around us.
Subscribe to the “How to Touch Grass” podcast on Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-to-age-up/id1587046024
Subscribe to the “How to Touch Grass” podcast on Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/44vtkPicxYPd5SJDvr8SCy
Follow The Atlantic on Instagram: instagram.com/theatlantic/?hl=en
Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Atlantic subscribers also get access to exclusive subscriber audio in Apple
Podcasts.
Subscribe today:
accounts.theatlantic.com/products/?utm_medium=cr&utm_source=podcast&utm_campaign=apple_podcasts
