I'm Maggie Smith, and this is The Slowdown.

I have a letterpress print in my house that reads sky before screen.

And I believe in that adage.

I believe that humans need more real experiences in the natural world

and less time in front of computers. If I'm feeling

burned out or stressed or sad, I feel better after spending a few hours outside, feeling the

grass under my feet, feeling the wind and the sun on my skin. It's grounding, and it helps me get

out of my own head and into my body. It helps me keep things in perspective. I've done my best to pass

these priorities on to my own children,

encouraging them to go outside when they have free time.

I think it stuck.

My 12-year-old son doesn't have any video games and hasn't asked for them. He can usually be found playing

soccer or a wiffle ball in a nearby park or riding bikes with friends. My daughter is 16 and

definitely loves to watch television and make playlists on her phone, like all teenagers,

but she also takes more walks in our neighborhood than anyone else I know.

Usually she invites me to join her, and we walk together, talking about what's going on with each of us, or laughing about old memories or inside jokes.

Those walks are usually the best part of my day.

She teases me sometimes for having my phone out on those walks, taking photos of clouds or using my Merlin bird app to identify

the calls of birds I'm hearing. It's funny, I do prioritize sky over screen, but I use my screen

to appreciate the sky. And you'd better believe that my algorithm knows how much I love

birds and trees and clouds and poetry. My feed is full of things that feed me. Today's poem speaks to me because at its heart is a deep curiosity

about the world, a desire to know more and more. It recognizes that sometimes we can use technology

...