Shows / The Cal Newport Show
The Cal Newport Show
A podcast about human flourishing in a technological world. Hosted by Cal Newport, an MIT-trained computer professor and bestselling author of numerous books on technology and its impacts, including DEEP WORK, DIGITAL MINIMALISM, A WORLD WITHOUT EMAIL, and SLOW PRODUCTIVITY. New episodes weekly.
Episodes
- The Cal Newport Show
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 questions answered by…
- The Cal Newport Show
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 answers…
- The Cal Newport Show
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 covered in today's…
- The Cal Newport Show
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 works and…
- The Cal Newport Show
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 issue and…
- The Cal Newport Show
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 like…
- The Cal Newport Show
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 coverage that…
- The Cal Newport Show
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 devices. In the…
- The Cal Newport Show
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 instinct? To…
- The Cal Newport Show
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 thinking…
- The Cal Newport Show
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 out, is…
- The Cal Newport Show
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 of economic…
- The Cal Newport Show
Ep 385: Single-Purpose Notebooks (REPLAY)
In this replay of a classic episode from March 2024, Cal discusses his transformative experience using a small analog notebook to tackle a complicated problem…
- The Cal Newport Show
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 that are…
- The Cal Newport Show
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 hit a…
- The Cal Newport Show
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.” In today’s…
- The Cal Newport Show
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 suggestion…
- The Cal Newport Show
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 from the…
- The Cal Newport Show
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. Why? The…
- The Cal Newport Show
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 ability to…
- The Cal Newport Show
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 machines…
- The Cal Newport Show
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. In this…
- The Cal Newport Show
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, which they have…
- The Cal Newport Show
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 precise…
- The Cal Newport Show
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 YouTubers have…
- The Cal Newport Show
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 was in…
- The Cal Newport Show
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 prolific…
- The Cal Newport Show
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…
- The Cal Newport Show
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 productive. In…
- The Cal Newport Show
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 this…
- The Cal Newport Show
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 Hour…
- The Cal Newport Show
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 brag about…
- The Cal Newport Show
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 lackluster GPT-5…
- The Cal Newport Show
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…
- The Cal Newport Show
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 the…
- The Cal Newport Show
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 pointed…
- The Cal Newport Show
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 from…
- The Cal Newport Show
Ep. 362: The Texting Dilemma
When we think about unhealthy phone usage, we think about the flashing apps, like TikTok and Instagram, in which billions of dollars have been spent to grab…
- The Cal Newport Show
Ep. 361: Do You Need an App Blocker?
Are you worried that you’re using your phone too much? An app blocker might make sense. But how do they work, and which one is right for you? In this episode…
- The Cal Newport Show
Ep. 360: One-Page Productivity
Trying to stick to complicated time management systems without any breaks can eventually lead to burn out. But if you stop organizational efforts altogether…
- The Cal Newport Show
Ep. 359: Should We Fear Cognitive Debt?
A blockbuster new study out of MIT takes a closer look at the impact of writing with the help of AI. In today’s episode, Cal breaks down this paper with the…
- The Cal Newport Show
Ep. 358: Are Parents (Finally) Ready to Fight Smartphones?
Back in 2023, Cal gave a detailed deep dive that described the three phases of scientific understanding of smartphones, social media, and kids. In today’s…
- The Cal Newport Show
Ep. 357: What Worries the Internet’s Favorite Philosopher?
Few philosophers in recent memory have enjoyed as much attention as Byung-Chul Han. His mix of profundity and pithiness in tackling some of the big issues of…
- The Cal Newport Show
IN-DEPTH: The Art of Non-Conformity (w/ Chris Guillebeau)
In this episode of IN-DEPTH, Cal is joined by Chris Guillebeau, the author of the new book, TIME ANXIETY, and creator of the beloved Art of Non-Conformity blog…
- The Cal Newport Show
Ep. 356: How Much Should We Work?
The data shows knowledge workers really are more exhausted and more prone to burnout than ever before. But why? In this episode, Cal draws inspiration from an…
- The Cal Newport Show
Ep. 355: Quit Social Media (For Real This Time)
A common complaint about social media skepticism is that we’re falling into a classic moral panic. We’ve been concerned about many past mass media…
- The Cal Newport Show
Ep. 354: The Workload Fairytale
A few years ago, in a spirit of post-pandemic experimentation, multiple countries ran formal trials to test a radical idea: shortening the workweek. In this…
- The Cal Newport Show
Ep. 353: Summer Schedules
Summer is here. It’s time to slow down. In this episode, Cal discusses his radically simplified summer schedule and then suggests you similarly inject some…
- The Cal Newport Show
Ep. 352: It’s Okay to Slow Down
When we think about important accomplishments, we think about grinding through long hours of work. But is this really necessary? In this episode, Cal turns to…
- The Cal Newport Show
Ep. 351: Making the Internet Good Again
Tyler Cowen recently wrote an article arguing that spending lots of time online is in fact a good thing. In this episode, Cal looks deeper at Cowen’s argument…
- The Cal Newport Show
Ep. 350: Is Inbox Zero Possible?
The white whale of modern productivity discourse is achieving an empty email inbox; a goal state that’s often referred to simply as “inbox zero.” In this…
- The Cal Newport Show
Ep. 349: Sam Altman On Productivity
Cal talks a lot about his ideas for producing meaningful work in a distracted world. But how do other people tackle this goal? To help better under this…
- The Cal Newport Show
IN-DEPTH: Architecting a Deep Life (w/ David Dewane)
In this episode of IN-DEPTH, Cal is joined by David Dewane, the architect responsible for the “eudaimonia machine” featured in DEEP WORK. In this wide-ranging…
- The Cal Newport Show
Ep. 348: Manage Your Time in 5 Minutes a Day
Cal has been writing about time management for a *long* time. In this episode, he returns to a chapter from a book he wrote twenty years ago that is titled…
- The Cal Newport Show
Ep. 347: The Forgotten Phone Harms
Phones have been receiving a lot of criticism recently, but what if these concerns are missing the mark? In this episode, Cal introduces the difference between…
- The Cal Newport Show
Ep. 346: Getting Smarter in a Dumb World
In last week’s episode, Cal discussed data that indicate that the rise of the smartphones is making humans measurably dumber. Here he discusses aggressive…
- The Cal Newport Show
Ep. 345: Are We Getting Dumber?
Multiple listeners recently sent in a Financial Times article that asks whether humans have passed “peak intelligence.” In this episode, Cal looks closer at…
- The Cal Newport Show
Ep. 344: You Are Not a Cog
Modern knowledge work jobs should be cushy gigs. Fixed hours, air conditioning, no hard manual labor, flexibility. So why are we so often burnt out and what…
- The Cal Newport Show
Ep. 343: A Minimal Protocol for Taking Control of Your LIfe
One of the most commonly recurring themes on this show is the conflict between too much versus not enough productivity. In this episode, Cal attempts to find…
- The Cal Newport Show
IN-DEPTH: Greatness on Trial (w/ Brad Stulberg and Clay Skipper)
In this episode of IN-DEPTH, Cal is joined by the writers Brad Stulberg and Clay Skipper to talk about the topic of “greatness.” They attempt to pick apart the…