How to Touch Grass

What It Takes to Reclaim Your Attention Span

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

Why Learn Something That a Machine Can Do for You?

Children still learn long division even though calculators exist, and many people continue to study languages even as AI translation becomes faster and more accurate. Is

The Internet Is More Image-Focused Than Ever

It wasn’t that long ago that “body positivity” was all over the internet. Oppressive beauty standards hadn’t gone away by any stretch, but many people on social media wer

How AI Could Make People More Anxious

Nothing sucks you in quite like the internet. It seems to have a way of figuring out what you’re currently obsessed with and serving you more and more of it, whether that

The Power of Pre-Internet Nostalgia

Back in the ’90s, before everyone had smartphones, were things just … better? Tech-focused nostalgia has become a potent cultural force in recent years, driving sales of

Introducing How To Touch Grass

A common piece of advice for those who are chronically online is to “go touch grass.” This upcoming season of How To, co-hosts Natalie Brennan and Julie Beck will look mo

How to Age Up on a Warming Planet

How should we think about aging when the impacts of climate change can make the future feel so uncertain? That’s a question Sarah Ray, professor and chair of environmenta

How to Define Old Age

In 2021 Dr. Kiran Rabheru, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Ottawa and a geriatric psychiatrist, found himself at the center of a medical debate. The World

How to Age Up Together

In the next 10 years, our society will become more old than young. How do we leverage this time to build stronger intergenerational connections? Eunice Nichols, the co-CE

How to Fuel Up

Food trends are constantly changing, so can people commit to a long-term nutrition practice? Kera Nyemb-Diop says yes. She is a nutrition scientist focused on breaking do

How to Wish You Were 66 Instead of 35

We don’t often talk about the benefits of aging. Dr.Karen Adams has a different perspective. From new beginnings to menopausal zest, the director of the Stanford Program

How to Defy Death

Humans have always tried to prolong life and battle mortality, but what do the current influx of biohackers reveal about this era of individual responsibility?  Timothy

Introducing: How to Age Up

Our scientific understanding of the aging process may be expanding, but is our cultural thinking about aging keeping up? In the new season of The Atlantic’s popular How T

Best of “How To”: Make Small Talk

This new season of How To is a collection of our favorite episodes from past seasons—a best-of series focused on slowing down, making space, and finding meaning in our he

Best of “How To”: Identify What You Enjoy

This new season of How To is a collection of our favorite episodes from past seasons—a best-of series focused on slowing down, making space, and finding meaning in our he

Best of “How To”: Waste Time

Our latest season of How To is a collection of our favorite episodes from past seasons—a best-of series focused on slowing down, making space, and finding meaning in our

Best of “How To”: The Infrastructure of Community

This new season of How To is a collection of our favorite episodes from past seasons—a best-of series focused on slowing down, making space, and finding meaning in our he

Best of “How To”: Rest

This new season of How To is a collection of our favorite episodes from past seasons—a best-of series focused on slowing down, making space, and finding meaning in our he

Best of “How To”: Spend Time on What You Value

This new season of How To is a collection of our favorite episodes from past seasons—a best-of series focused on slowing down, making space, and finding meaning in our he

How to Know What's Real: How to Know What’s Really Propaganda

Peter Pomerantsev, a contributor at The Atlantic and author of This Is Not Propaganda: Adventures in the War Against Reality, is an expert on the ways information can be