Ep. 355: Quit Social Media (For Real This Time)

Deep Questions with Cal Newport

Cal Newport

Education, Self-improvement, Technology

4.8 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 2 June 2025

⏱️ 72 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

A common complaint about social media skepticism is that we’re falling into a classic moral panic. We’ve been concerned about many past mass media technologies, and ultimately came to realize that they’re not so bad. So why would we expect anything different about social media? In this episode, Cal tackles this complaint, drawing on an unexpected analogy to find clarity. He then answers listener questions and discusses the books he read in May, but not before first confronting a truly bizarre (or, perhaps, brilliant) piece of art work created by a fan of the show. Find out more about Done Daily at DoneDaily.com! 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: Quit Social Media [6:18] - How can I become a better, more analytical thinker? [23:04] - How can I stay motivated, productive, and balanced while working mostly alone during my first remote internship? [28:56]- How much time should I dedicate to developing secondary skills? [30:10]- How does TikTok seem to know so much about me? [32:09]- What are the best workflow strategies when using AI agents? [43:45] CASE STUDY: A simple, analog approach to productivity [49:31] CALL: Too focused on metrics [53:15] MAY BOOKS: The 5 Books Cal Read in May 2025 [1:03:19] May Books: Building: A Carpenter’s Notes on Life & the Art of Good Work (Mark Ellison) Thoreau’s Axe (Caleb Smith) 9 Innings (Daniel Okrent) Let Them (Mel Robbins) Against the Machine (Paul Kingsnorth) Links:Buy Cal’s latest book, “Slow Productivity” at calnewport.com/slowGet a signed copy of Cal’s “Slow Productivity” at peoplesbooktakoma.com/event/cal-newport/Cal’s monthly book directory: bramses.notion.site/059db2641def4a88988b4d2cee4657ba?amazon.com/Four-Days-Week-Life-Changing-Well-Being/dp/0063382431/rcalnewport.com/on-ultra-processed-content/podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cal-newport-5-28-19/id814550071?i=1000647135862rehearsal.so/blog/how_to_stay_in_flow_while_using_cursor_or_windsurf Thanks to our Sponsors: cozyearth.com/deepshopify.com/deepharrys.com/deepcalderalab.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 Cal Newport, and this is Deep Questions, the show about cultivating depth in a distracted world.
0:22.8	So I'm here in my deep work, HQ.
0:24.9	Joined as always by my producer, Jesse.
0:27.1	Jesse, you noticed I changed up our slogan there a little bit?
0:29.6	Yeah, I did.
0:30.1	I thought you misspoke.
0:30.9	I didn't misspeak.
0:32.2	It's been irritating me for years.
0:36.2	Writers hate repetition.
0:39.4	And all the writers in the listing items right now will understand this.
0:44.1	The deep questions that show about cultivating a deep life that repetitious deep can't have deep in two sentences in a row.
0:51.3	So I'm trying out depth to try to avoid the excess repetition.
0:54.9	Anyone's ever been through a copy editing process knows REP period.
0:57.9	They put REP period being like repeated use of a word.
1:01.5	So what is it?
1:03.1	Tell me if this makes sense.
1:04.3	Cultivating depth in a distracted world.
1:08.8	Seems to make sense to me, but you have better grammar than I do.
1:12.2	All right.
1:12.5	No repetition.
1:13.9	Let us know, you can complain to Jesse.
1:16.5	We got some feedback about last week's episode.
	...

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