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 advice about cultivating focus, productivity, and meaning amidst the noise that pervades our lives.
410 episodes transcribedA new study finds that for many workers, AI increases shallow efforts while decreasing time focusing on what really matters. This is not the first dig...
Cal Newport takes a critical look at recent AI News. Video from today’s episode: youtube.com/calnewportmedia STORY #1: Did an AI Agent Email an AI Res...
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...
Cal Newport takes a critical look at recent AI News. Below are the questions covered in today's episode (with their timestamps). Get your questions an...
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? Cal Newport takes a closer look at recent AI news. Below are the topics covered in today...
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...
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...
There remains a gap between the production values of professional streaming services like Netflix and independent content that appears on platforms li...
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...
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...
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...
Despite some initial skepticism, Jonathan Haidt’s crusade against kids using smartphones has been more or less completely vindicated. Which got us thi...
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) 2025 was a year that was saturated in AI news, from Deep Seek, through claims of econ...
In this replay of a classic episode from March 2024, Cal discusses his transformative experience using a small analog notebook to tackle a complicated...
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...
Earlier this fall, the activist, novelist, and essayist Paul Kingsnorth published an anti-technology polemic called “Against the Machine.” To say it h...
Last month, Derek Thompson published an intriguing essay that made waves in technology criticism circles. It was titled: “Everything is Television.” I...
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...
