The Cal Newport Show

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 primary and secondary phone harms, and a...

7 Apr 20251h 11min

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 strategies for resisting this reality. He the...

31 Mars 20251h 12min

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 data in this article to try to understa...

24 Mars 20251h 10min

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 can we do about this reality? In this episo...

17 Mars 20251h 27min

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 new clarity in this debate by identifying ...

10 Mars 20251h 32min

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 weird moment we are in where, on the one...

6 Mars 20251h 18min

How do escape a life of shallowness and distraction to cultivate something deeper and more meaningful? In this episode, Cal draws from both algorithm theory and the habits of a reclusive author to hig...

3 Mars 20251h 20min

Tim Ferris is working on a new book about saying “no” and has posted the introduction online. In this episode, Cal reads an excerpt from this introduction and then tries to make sense of it with a met...

24 Feb 20251h 31min