The Cal Newport Show

Two years ago, The Atlantic featured a distressing story about elite college students who could no longer read books. Last week, The Wall Street Journal offered some hope that things are getting better. An article by Pamela Paul described how Harvard’s ‘brutal’ humanities course, Hum 10, which requires students to read one hefty book per week, has become extremely popular. In this short episode, Cal explores why this is happening and what it tells us about how best to resist our would-be digital overlords.

More from Cal

Download Cal’s FREE guide to cultivating a deeper life: calnewport.com/ideas
Learn more about Cal’s books: calnewport.com/books
Listen to Cal’s podcast: thedeeplife.com/listen

Chapters:

00:00:00 Intro: Can college students still read books?

00:01:03 Harvard's Hum 10, the brutal class everyone wants

00:02:31 Why students are choosing the hard way

00:04:47 Reward shortcutting and early social media

00:08:21 TikTok and shortcut engagement

00:11:49 Generative AI and the shortcut to knowledge

00:16:27 Outro: The growing push against shortcuts

Credits:

Podcast Production: Jesse Miller
Newsletter/Research: Nate Mechler
Theme Music: Jay Kerstens
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It’s become hard to talk about technology. Commentators have split themselves into two increasingly extreme teams: the pessimists and the optimists. But what about the rest of us who don’t hate technology but are wary of obvious harms? In today’s episode, Cal proposes a third option: technoselectionism.

Below are the questions covered in today's episode (with their timestamps). Get your questions answered by Cal! Here’s the link: https://bit.ly/3U3sTvo

Video from today’s episode: youtube.com/calnewportmedia

(0:00) Is technology good or bad?

(35:19) Applying digital minimalism to LLMs

(38:19) An overlooked negative impact of using too much AI

(40:22) A reformed relationship with social media

(42:20) An article about focus, writing spaces and New Yorker staff writers

(49:52) What Cal is up to

October Books:

Simplify (Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen, Roy Schwartz)

Telephone (John Brooks)

Roll That Calls (Ari Emanuel)

Cancel Me If You Can (Dave Portnoy)

The Treeline (Ben Rawlence)

Links:

Buy Cal’s latest book, “Slow Productivity” at www.calnewport.com/slow

Get a signed copy of Cal’s “Slow Productivity” at https://peoplesbooktakoma.com/event/cal-newport/

https://ludditebicentenary.blogspot.com/2012/04/12th-april-1812-letter-from-g-ludd-to.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com

https://economics.mit.edu/sites/default/files/2024-04/Learning%20from%20Ricardo%20and%20Thompson%20-%20Machinery%20and%20Labor%20in%20the%20Early%20Industrial%20Revolution%20-%20and%20in%20the%20Age%20of%20AI.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com

https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/answering-the-techno-pessimists-complete?hide_intro_popup=true

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/P4m8-9KJpTQ

https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/its-time-to-dismantle-the-technopoly

Thanks to our Sponsors:

https://www.vanta.com/deepquestions

https://www.pipedrive.com/deep

https://www.monarch.com (Use code “DEEP”)

https://www.superhuman.com

Today’s episode was produced and mastered by Jesse Miller. Nate Mechler provided research and newsletter support. It was edited by Ben Crain and Rob Montz. The theme music is from Jay Kerstens.
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The most recent episode of the Acquired podcast featured a story about Jerry Seinfeld that provides a critical lesson for succeeding in our current AI moment.



Video from today’s episode: youtube.com/calnewportmedia

(0:00) Do hard things

(1:30) Technologies and jobs

(5:22) AI today

(8:19) The solution

Links:

Buy Cal’s latest book, “Slow Productivity” at www.calnewport.com/slow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wm53dMsn5dk

Today’s episode was produced and mastered by Jesse Miller. Nate Mechler provided research and newsletter support. It was edited by Ben Crain and Rob Montz. The theme music is modified from Jay Kerstens.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What happens when neat theoretical ideas about productivity are deployed in the messy real world? In this episode, Cal is joined by Haley Pulli, a productivity coach from the company DoneDaily, to discuss case studies of clients who initially struggled with some of Cal’s ideas and how they ultimately fixed the issues.

Below are the questions covered in today's episode (with their timestamps). Get your questions answered by Cal! Here’s the link: https://bit.ly/3U3sTvo

Video from today’s episode: youtube.com/calnewportmedia

(0:00) When productivity theory meets practice

(4:26) Time blocking

(14:50) Multi-scale planning

(24:16) Deep work

(43:05) Attention residue

(50:05) Shutdown ritual

(54:05) Obsess over quality

(1:00:07 ) Shallow work

Links:

Buy Cal’s latest book, “Slow Productivity” at www.calnewport.com/slow

Get a signed copy of Cal’s “Slow Productivity” at https://peoplesbooktakoma.com/event/cal-newport/

Thanks to our Sponsors:

https://www.vanta.com/deepquestions

https://www.calderalab.com/deep (Use code “DEEP”)

https://www.quo.com/deep

https://www.masterclass.com/cal

Thanks to Jesse Miller for production and mastering, Nate Mechler for research and newsletter, and Ben Crain and Rob Montz for video editing.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Tesla’s recent demo of a rocket-powered Roadster doing a kick-flick over a parked car touched a nerve in me. It seemed to epitomize changes to the tech sector in recent years that have been largely negative. In this short episode, I jump on the mic to explain some of my developing thoughts surrounding these ideas.

More from Cal

Download Cal’s FREE guide to cultivating a deeper life: calnewport.com/ideas
Learn more about Cal’s books: calnewport.com/books
Listen to Cal’s podcast: thedeeplife.com/listen

Chapters

00:00 Intro
02:40 Factor 1: Growth companies vs. stable companies
05:40 Factor 2: Engagement-pilling
08:00 Factor 3: Building useful products is hard
10:43 Why this is a problem — and what we can do about it
13:49 Outro

Credits:

Podcast Production: Jesse Miller
Newsletter/Research: Nate Mechler
Theme Music: Jay Kerstens
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices