Am I Addicted to My Phone? (w/ Anna Lembke) | Monday Advice

Deep Questions with Cal Newport

Cal Newport

Education, Self-improvement, Technology

4.8 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 18 May 2026

⏱️ 87 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

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 dive deep into her book, Dopamine Nation, that captivated readers. Below are the questions covered in today's episode (with their timestamps). Get your questions answered by Cal! Send an email to podcast@calnewport.com. Video from today’s episode: youtube.com/calnewportmedia (0:00) Am I addicted to my phone (w/ Anna Lembke) (1:04:41) Digital minimalism and good uses for your phone (1:14:31) AI in academic publishing (1:20:35) What I read (1:24:10) What’s coming up Books: What to Make of a Life: Cliffs, Fog, Fire and the Self-Knowldge (Jim Collins) 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/ Cal’s monthly book directory: bramses.notion.site/059db2641def4a88988b4d2cee4657ba? https://internetaddictsanonymous.org/guide-for-newcomers/ Thanks to our Sponsors: https://www.shopify.com/deep https://www.monarch.com/deep (Use code “DEEP”) https://www.expressvpn.com/deep https://www.cozyearth.com/deep (Use code “DEEP” for 30% off) Thanks to Jesse Miller for mastering and production, Jay Kerstens for the intro music, and Nate Mechler for research and newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's become fashionable when thinking about our phones to joke around about being hooked on these devices.
0:07.0	Oh man, I'm so addicted to my Insta, we say with a grin on our faces.
0:14.0	But should we be taking this possibility more seriously?
0:17.0	What is the line between using our phones too much and suffering from an actual
0:22.3	psychopathology?
0:23.7	And if we are addicted, what would it mean to treat it, not just half-hearted tweaks here
0:27.9	and there, but to actually try to find real freedom from this problematic behavior?
0:33.7	Well, it's Monday, so that means it's time for an advice episode of this show.
0:37.9	It seems like the perfect opportunity to dive deeper into this issue.
0:42.2	Now, to help me, I'm bringing on a guest that I've long been trying to book, Dr. Anna Limbke.
0:48.0	Anna is a professor of psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine and chief of the Stanford Addiction Medicine Dual Diagnosis Clinic.
0:55.5	In 2016, she published a book titled Drug Dealer MD about the opioid epidemic.
1:01.3	But if her name sounds familiar, it's probably because of her 2021 bestseller, Dopamine
1:06.9	Nation, which looks at how addiction functions in the brain and takes particular aim at the potential for digital devices to become addictive. Now, you may have seen Anna on her popular appearances on the Joe Rogan podcast, the Andrew Huberman podcast, and the Oprah podcast. You may have also seen her featured in the Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma.
1:28.6	Now, I crossed paths with Anna recently because we both just recorded a master class course.
1:34.4	So if you like what you hear today, you should definitely check out her class,
1:37.6	which is called dopamine, take back your brain.
1:40.8	Now, in this interview, Anna and I discuss how addiction works in our minds,
1:45.3	how digital addictions compare to substance addictions, how to tell if you have a problem
1:50.0	and the best ways to get help if you do, including the recent rise in a technology-related
1:55.6	12-step program called ITAA. We also talk about kids and why the problem with devices and young people is
2:03.2	worse than we thought, as well as possibilities for making all of this better. So if you've
	...

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