Deep Questions with Cal Newport

17 Aug 2026

The best way to kick your scrolling habit is to introduce more “high quality leisure” into your life. But how do you accomplish this goal? In this replay of a classic episode from February, 2024,

10 Aug 2026

Only 8% of people finish their yearly goals. At the same time, the percentage of people feeling a sense of meaning of purpose in their life is falling. These two numbers are connected: the more we

6 Aug 2026

Cal Newport takes a critical look at recent AI News. Video from today’s episode: youtube.com/calnewportmedia (0:00) Does Open AI’s Astra mean AGI has arrived? (3:07) What actually happened?

3 Aug 2026

In this replay of a classic episode from January 1st, 2024, Cal walks through the process of learning hard things. The good news is that most people can learn most things. The bad news is that

30 Jul 2026

Cal Newport takes a critical look at recent AI News. Video from today’s episode: youtube.com/calnewportmedia (0:00) Did OpenAI’s model “go rogue” (11:29) The implications (11:42) Did this

27 Jul 2026

Why do digital detoxes fail to create lasting change? What works better? To answer these questions, Cal draws from the book “A Brief History of Intelligence” to reveal the relevant neuroscience

20 Jul 2026

Cal Newport talks with Brad Stulberg to explain the optimization paradox in Episode 414 of the Deep Questions podcast. Below are the questions covered in today's episode (with their timestamps). Get

16 Jul 2026

Cal Newport takes a critical look at recent AI News. Video from today’s episode: youtube.com/calnewportmedia (0:00) Anthropic’s new research report (2:05) Digging into the paper (3:32) High

13 Jul 2026

Tell me if this sounds familiar: you buy a beautiful notebook, excited by all its possibilities to help refine your thoughts and generate new insights. Then it sits unused until you forget about it.

9 Jul 2026

Cal Newport takes a critical look at recent AI News. Video from today’s episode: youtube.com/calnewportmedia (0:00) Does business actually understand AI? (2:52) Quote #2 (6:20) Taking a step back

6 Jul 2026

It’s a dream a lot of us have: to finally say “enough!”, and turn off the internet inside our homes, returning us to a lifestyle that requires more presence, introspection, and connection. But

29 Jun 2026

Back in 2019, Cal published one of the first books arguing that we rethink our personal relationship with online tools. Can his advice still work in an age of TikTok and ChatGPT? In today’s

25 Jun 2026

Cal Newport takes a critical look at recent AI News. Video from today’s episode: youtube.com/calnewportmedia (0:00) Stop the “doom trolling” (6:53) Cal’s recent New York Times article

22 Jun 2026

Cal Newport explains about if you're lazy or overstimulated in episode 410 of the Deep Questions podcast. Below are the questions covered in today's episode (with their timestamps). Get your

17 Jun 2026

Cal Newport takes a critical look at recent AI News. Video from today’s episode: youtube.com/calnewportmedia (0:00) Was the Mythos ban justified? (5:32) Is Fable 5 actually dangerous? (11:03)

15 Jun 2026

In the 1960s, doctors avoided people to avoid exercise. Then everything changed. Now physical fitness is a $100 billion industry. What would it look like if we got equally as serious about cognitive

11 Jun 2026

Cal Newport takes a critical look at recent AI News. Video from today’s episode: youtube.com/calnewportmedia (0:00) Are we about to lose control of AI? (3:04) How much should we be afraid of

8 Jun 2026

Sometimes the best way to get unstuck is to press pause on your busy life and take a moment to look toward new possibilities. But how is this possible if you can’t afford to literally stop

1 Jun 2026

There has been lots of discussion recently about AI eliminating jobs. But what if the real fear is that AI will instead make existing jobs miserable? In this episode, Cal argues that LLM–based

28 May 2026

Cal Newport takes a critical look at recent AI News. Video from today’s episode: youtube.com/calnewportmedia (0:00) Did AI just “solve” math? (2:38) What OpenAI did (6:30) Question #1 - Is

25 May 2026

It’s common to feel like you don’t have enough time in your schedule to build a life that’s both professionally successful and personally deep. But is this true? In today’s episode, Cal

21 May 2026

Cal Newport takes a critical look at recent AI News.   Video from today’s episode: youtube.com/calnewportmedia   (0:00) Has AI conquered coding? (3:21) Lars Faye quote (5:25) Skipping the

18 May 2026

Many of us ask the question if phone addiction is similar to other addictions. In this episode, Cal is joined by the #1 New York Times bestselling author Anna Lembke to explore this question. They

14 May 2026

Cal Newport takes a critical look at recent AI News.   Video from today’s episode: youtube.com/calnewportmedia   (0:00) Is AI about to “eat everything”? (2:53) What does the METR chart

11 May 2026

A new research study reveals that a surprisingly simple intervention into your digital life can yield massive benefits in only two weeks. In this episode, Cal takes a deep dive into this paper,

7 May 2026

Cal Newport takes a critical look at recent AI News. Video from today’s episode: youtube.com/calnewportmedia (0:00) Is the AI doom fever breaking? (4:30) Have the AI CEOs changed their tuen?

4 May 2026

What can an obscure theory of industrial productivity teach us about producing better results in a distracted world? In this episode, Cal is joined by the #1 New York Times bestselling author David

30 Apr 2026

Cal Newport takes a critical look at recent AI News. Video from today’s episode also at: youtube.com/calnewportmedia 0:00 Is AI About to Automate Every Office Job? 3:02 Other Tech Leaders

27 Apr 2026

In his recent New York Times essay, Cal argued for a “cognitive fitness” revolution to resist the onslaught of digital tools degrading our ability to think. But how does one actually strengthen

23 Apr 2026

Cal Newport takes a critical look at recent AI News. Video from today’s episode: youtube.com/calnewportmedia 0:00 What has *Actually* Happened in AI in 2026?  3:07 Open Claw 27:53 Anthropic

20 Apr 2026

Is developing discipline one of the most effective bulwarks against the constant flood of distraction we face daily? And if so, what’s the best way to accomplish this goal? In this Monday Advice

16 Apr 2026

Cal Newport takes a critical look at recent AI News. Today's episode on YouTube: youtube.com/calnewportmedia 0:00 What’s Really Going on with Mythos?  10:09 Security systems 21:27 Conclusion

13 Apr 2026

Ep. 400: Should I Embrace “Slow Technology”? If there was one word to describe modern digital tools, it would be “fast.” But not everyone thinks this is better. In today’s episode, Cal

9 Apr 2026

AI Reality Check: Is AI Stealing Entry-Level Jobs? Cal Newport takes a critical look at recent AI News. Video from today’s episode: youtube.com/calnewportmedia OPENING: Is AI stealing

6 Apr 2026

It’s been a decade since the original publication of DEEP WORK. Do its ideas still hold in 2026? This is the question Cal tackles in today’s episode: reviewing the four major “rules” from his

2 Apr 2026

Cal Newport takes a critical look at recent AI News. Video from today’s episode: youtube.com/calnewportmedia ACT #1: Look Closer at the Article [1:20] ACT #2: A Closer Look at the Paper [3:21]

30 Mar 2026

Here’s a key question: Did technology like smartphones make us miserable, or were we already miserable and smartphones made it worse? To help figure out this answer, I talked to Arthur Brooks, the

26 Mar 2026

Cal Newport takes a critical look at recent AI News. Video from today’s episode: youtube.com/calnewportmedia SUB QUESTION #1: What is Yan LeCun Up To? [2:55] SUB QUESTION #2: How is it possible

23 Mar 2026

A new study finds that for many workers, AI increases shallow efforts while decreasing time focusing on what really matters. This is not the first digital productivity technology to create this

19 Mar 2026

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 Researcher? [1:01] STORY #2: Does the Pentagon

16 Mar 2026

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 explores five pieces of advice for transforming your

12 Mar 2026

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 Cal! Here’s the link:

9 Mar 2026

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: conducting a “social media pause.” To

5 Mar 2026

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 episode (with their timestamps).  Get your

2 Mar 2026

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 can last. Do you have a reasonable

23 Feb 2026

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 an opportunity. The fact we can’t

16 Feb 2026

There remains a gap between the production values of professional streaming services like Netflix and independent content that appears on platforms like YouTube. But what happens when that gap

9 Feb 2026

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 distort or distract from the reality of

2 Feb 2026

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 ideas segment, Cal examines the

26 Jan 2026

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 help explore this question, author