Ep. 336: On Screens and Solitude

Deep Questions with Cal Newport

Cal Newport

Education, Self-improvement, Technology

4.8 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 20 January 2025

⏱️ 91 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In a recent article for The Atlantic, Derek Thompson writes about the troubling trends toward increased solitude. In this episode, Cal looks at the role technology plays in these trends, pointing out some surprising factors and then using these insights to come up with a practical plan for reconnecting with the world. He then answers listener questions and concludes with a tech corner segment inspired by yet another New Yorker column. Below are the questions covered in today's episode (with their timestamps). Get your questions answered by Cal! Here’s the link: bit.ly/3U3sTvo Video from today’s episode: youtube.com/calnewportmedia Deep Dive: On Screens and Solitude [3:09] - How can I study at night after my doctor work? [26:49] - Can you comment on Leopold Aschenbrenner’s Situational Awareness essay? [36:45] - How do I successfully pursue my non-work values? [51:33] - How can I become a better writer? [1:00:56] - Can someone break into the top 0.1% of their respective field without periods of unsustainable and obsessive work? [1:02:44] - CALL: Managing active projects [1:08:42] CASE STUDY: A follow-up from Episode 323 [1:13:02] CAL REACTS: An Offline Person Tries TikTok for the First Time [1:19:34] Links: Buy Cal’s latest book, “Slow Productivity” at calnewport.com/slow Get a signed copy of Cal’s “Slow Productivity” at peoplesbooktakoma.com/event/cal-newport/ Cal’s monthly book directory: bramses.notion.site/059db2641def4a88988b4d2cee4657ba? axios.com/2024/06/23/leopold-aschenbrenner-ai-future-silicon-valley theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2025/02/american-loneliness-personality-politics/681091/ newyorker.com/culture/infinite-scroll/what-happened-when-an-extremely-offline-person-tried-tiktok Thanks to our Sponsors: upliftdesk.com/deep landrover.com/usa expressvpn.com/deep shopify.com/deep Thanks to Jesse Miller for production, Jay Kerstens for the intro music, Kieron Rees for the slow productivity music, and Mark Miles for mastering. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Cald-Newport, and this is Deep Questions, the show about cultivating a deep life
0:17.1	in a distracted world.
0:24.2	I'm here in my Deep Work, H.Q.
0:26.8	I'm joined as always by my producer, Jesse.
0:30.1	Jesse, some irony.
0:32.3	You know, last week we did this episode, we were talking about morning routines,
0:36.5	and we were kind of lamenting the over the top
0:40.3	nature of morning routine videos online and we looked at some of those like jaco and joe rogan
0:45.5	talking about his ice bath but anyways we put out the video of that episode and our youtube guide named
0:50.7	an optimal morning routine and the video is doing really well. So we have become, YouTube is treating us like one of those over the top morning routine
0:59.5	videos, even though the video was itself actually critiquing a lot of those morning
1:02.6	routine videos.
1:03.5	So I thought it was funny.
1:05.5	Yeah, I mean, he did say that those types of videos generate a lot of attraction.
1:11.0	Yeah.
1:11.6	God knows how that algorithm works.
1:14.3	Morning routines have been a big thing for years now.
1:17.9	I saw it mentioned even, like in the article we're going to talk about today in the deep dive of the Derek Thompson Atlantic article.
1:23.9	He talks about it at some point in there, how he has become or he became sort of
1:28.3	addicted to watching morning routine videos and TikToks. So I guess it's like a genre that's just
1:35.0	interesting in itself, just watching people with their really organized, really organized mornings.
1:40.6	My morning routine video, like an actual day in the life, will be a lot more stressful.
	...

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