Deep Questions with Cal Newport
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Deep Questions with Cal Newport
Cal Newport is a computer science professor and a New York Times bestselling author who writes about the impact of technology on society, and the struggle to work and live deeply in a world increasingly mired in digital distractions. On this podcast, he answers questions from his readers and offers...
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AI Reality Check: Did AI Just Become Sentient?
Cal Newport takes a critical look at recent AI News.
Video from today’s episode: youtube.com/calnewportmedia
STORY #1: Did an AI Agent Ema...
Ep. 396: Can I Learn To Love My Phone Again?
Remember how much we loved our iPhones when they first came out? Can we get back to that relationship with these devices? In this episode, Cal explore...
AI Reality Check: Is the Economy About to Collapse?
Cal Newport takes a critical look at recent AI News.
Below are the questions covered in today's episode (with their timestamps). Get your questi...
Ep. 395: Should I Try a “Social Media Pause”?
Do you need social media? Which services? For what purposes? These are complicated questions and in today’s episode Cal proposes a simple route to ans...
AI Reality Check: Did the LLM Job Apocalypse Begin Last Week?
AI Reality Check: Did the LLM Job Apocalypse Begin Last Week?
Cal Newport takes a closer look at recent AI news.
Below are the topics cove...
Ep. 394: Do I Need a Better Planning System?
It’s hard to live deeply in a distracted world if you don’t have control over how you spend your time. This goal requires a planning system that both...
Ep. 393: Can Movies Save Us From Our Phones?
Last month, the Atlantic reported that film students are now struggling to sit through entire films. In this episode, Cal argues that this is both an...
Ep. 392: Are “Micro-Streamers” the Future of Media? + Why Cal Spent $60 on a Task App
There remains a gap between the production values of professional streaming services like Netflix and independent content that appears on platforms li...
Ep. 391: Is AI Reporting Broken? + Rethinking Morning Routines
Is there something rotten in the state of AI reporting at the moment? In the ideas segment of this episode, Cal details three common traps in AI cover...
Ep. 390: What Happens When You Ditch Your Smartphone? + Assessing the Internet’s Latest Self-Help Sensation
Everyone knows that excessive smartphone use can be harmful. But the question we don’t ask enough is what the advantages are of not using these device...
Ep. 389: Is the Internet Hijacking Ambition? + Escaping Messaging Hell
It’s natural to feel ambition, as we’re wired to find great satisfaction in accomplishing hard goals. But what impact has the internet had on this ins...
Ep. 388: What’s Worrying Jon Haidt Now? + Should You Buy a Landline? (Cal just did…)
Despite some initial skepticism, Jonathan Haidt’s crusade against kids using smartphones has been more or less completely vindicated. Which got us thi...
Ep 387: Can Substack Save Journalism? + Viral Advice for Ignoring Your Phone
Last year, when columnist Paul Krugman left the NYT, it seemed like yet another example of the traditional media crumbling. But Krugman, as it turns o...
Ep 386: Was 2025 a Great or Terrible Year for AI? (w/ Ed Zitron)
Ep 386: Was 2025 a Great or Terrible Year for AI? (w/ Ed Zitron)
2025 was a year that was saturated in AI news, from Deep Seek, through claims...
Ep 385:
In this replay of a classic episode from March 2024, Cal discusses his transformative experience using a small analog notebook to tackle a complicated...
Ep 384: What Should I Read for a Deeper New Year?
In our annual holiday episode, Cal tackles one of the questions he’s asked most often: What should I read? But with a twist. He recommends six books t...
Ep 383: Why Is Everyone Talking About “Against the Machine”? (w/ Tyler Austin Harper)
Earlier this fall, the activist, novelist, and essayist Paul Kingsnorth published an anti-technology polemic called “Against the Machine.” To say it h...
Ep. 382: Is the Internet Becoming Television?
Last month, Derek Thompson published an intriguing essay that made waves in technology criticism circles. It was titled: “Everything is Television.” I...
Ep. Ep 381: Life Advice from Legendary Writers
In today’s episode, Cal reviews some of his favorite advice from legendary writers (plus a bonus piece of advice from his own craft). Within each sugg...
Ep. 380: ChatGPT is Not Alive!
There has been a lot of loose talk online recently about the capabilities of existing AI tools. In this episode, Cal reacts to a specific recent clip...
Ep. 379: The Flexibility Myth
When companies began instituting return-to-office plans after the pandemic, a disproportionate number of women chose instead to leave the workforce. W...
Ep. 378: The Lost Art of Long Thinking
We often talk on this show about how digital devices undermine our ability to consume more complicated and meaningful ideas. But what about our abilit...
Ep. 376: The Lincoln Protocol
How do you escape a world where constant digital distractions and darkness threatens to pull you down? Maybe take a page out of Abraham Lincoln’s life...
Ep. 377: The Case Against Superintelligence
Techno-philosopher Eliezer Yudkowsky recently went on Ezra Klein's podcast to argue that if we continue on our path toward superintelligent AI, these...
Ep. 376: The Lincoln Protocol
How do you escape a world where constant digital distractions and darkness threatens to pull you down? Maybe take a page out of Abraham Lincoln’s life...
Ep. 375: Did OpenAI Just Kill Social Media?
Ep. 375: Did OpenAI Just Kill Social Media?
OpenAI has been making waves recently with their release of their Sora 2 video generation model, whi...
Ep. 374: This is Your Brain on Phones
It’s hard to cultivate a deep life when you cannot go more than a few minutes without checking your phone. In this episode, Cal looks closer at the pr...
Ep. 373: The Internet’s Best Advice for Reinventing Your Life
In 2023, I published an episode about resetting your life that became one of my most popular. In the years since, multiple major podcasters and YouTub...
Ep. 372: Decoding TikTok’s Algorithm
Last week, it was announced that Oracle would take over operation of TikTok in the US. One of the primary reasons proposed for this deal is that it wa...
IN-DEPTH: Focus like a Nobel Prize Winner (w/ Brian Keating)
In this episode of IN-DEPTH, Cal is joined by Dr. Brian Keating, the Chancellor’s Distinguished Professor of Physics at UCSD, and one of the most prol...
Ep. 371: Is it Finally Time to Leave Social Media?
We seem to be stuck in a purgatory when it comes to the worst of the social media platforms. We know they’re not great, but it’s hard to muster enough...
Ep. 370: Deep Work in the Age of AI
A recent study called into question a core assumption about the generative AI revolution: that these tools, at the very least, will make us more produ...
Ep. 369: Why Are We Getting Dumber? A Debate.
IQ scores had been steadily rising since WWII. But, more recently, this phenomenon has stopped. Since 2010, we’ve actually been getting dumber. In th...
IN-DEPTH: The Game of Life (w/ Tim Ferriss)
In this episode of IN-DEPTH, Cal is joined by bestselling author and podcaster, Tim Ferriss. Tim rocketed to prominence with his 2007 book, “The Four...
Ep. 368: I Want Work-Life Balance. Am I Doomed to Mediocrity?
A 22-year-old made a splash recently when he published a Wall Street Journal op-ed claiming that work-life balance makes you mediocre. He went on to b...
Ep. 367: What if AI Doesn’t Get Much Better Than This?
In recent years, it’s been hard not to react to the possibilities of generative AI without a mixture of euphoria or dread. But after OpenAI’s lacklust...
Ep. 366: How to Reinvent Your Life in 4 Months (Classic Episode from August, 2023)
In this replay of one of the more popular episodes from the Deep Questions archives, originally aired in August ,2023, Cal explores some of his early...
Ep. 365: What Technology Wants (and How to Push Back)
Why do we end up entangled with tools that don’t have our best interests in mind? How can we fix this situation? In this episode, Cal dives deep into...
Ep. 364: Metrics 101
When Cal recently returned home from his time spent up in New England he set up a whole new set of daily metrics to track in the fall to keep him poin...
Ep. 363: Escaping the Digital Doldrums
What does Walt Disney’s malaise in the 1940s have to do with our current struggles with our screens? In this episode, Cal uses a little-known story fr...