Ep. 11: Work Resistance, Techno-Criticism, Tales from MIT, and the Depth-Destroying Power of Children | DEEP QUESTIONS

In this episode of Deep Questions I answer reader questions on work resistance, the state of techno-criticism, tales from the MIT theory group, and the depth-destroying power of children. I also play some question roulette and tackle the audio question of the day. (Hint: it’s about my reading habits.) To submit your own questions, sign up for my mailing list at calnewport.com (I send a survey to this list soliciting questions on a semi-regular basis). Here’s the full list of topics tackled in today’s episode along with the timestamps:

• The organizational power of plain text files [1:18]
• Confronting an overwhelming number of obligations [4:00]
• Getting back on track after lockdown disrupted work habits [7:15]
• Dealing with resistance to work [9:39]
• Audio question of the day: managing a variety of different inputs [18:28]
• Avoiding social media on the phone browser [23:26]
• The need for a distraction-reducing phone operating system [26:06]
• Tracking birthdays without Facebook [28:32] 
• My podcast habits [31:07]
• Humane tools and the state of techno-criticism [33:57]
• Question roulette:  my book reading habits [43:46]
• Life inside the MIT Theory Group (bonus: cracking the superstar code) [48:47]
• The seeming impossibility of deep work with kids [1:02:42]
• Curing your spouse’s Facebook addiction [1:14:10]
• On the deep value of work [1:16:12]

Thanks to listener Jay Kerstens for the intro music.

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