Ep. 365: What Technology Wants (and How to Push Back)

Deep Questions with Cal Newport

Cal Newport

Education, Self-improvement, Technology

4.8 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 11 August 2025

⏱️ 63 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Why do we end up entangled with tools that don’t have our best interests in mind? How can we fix this situation? In this episode, Cal dives deep into the difference between additive and extractive technologies, telling a story that weaves old technology with old versions of modern tools, testimony from recent trials to ideas from leading technology critics – all in the service of improving your relationship with tools. He then answers listener questions and discusses the books he read in July, 2025. Below are the questions covered in today's episode (with their timestamps). Get your questions answered by Cal! Here’s the link: https://bit.ly/3U3sTvo Video from today’s episode: youtube.com/calnewportmedia Deep Dive: What Technology Wants (and How to Push Back) [:54]- Do project trackers work? [34:54]- Is there a downside scenario to engineering wonder? [39:14]- What types of people should I surround myself with? [43:00]- Can you explain your different audiences? [45:02] CALL: Shifting from medical work to a PhD [50:41]JULY BOOKS: The 5 Books that Cal Read in July, 2025 [57:33] L.A. Story (Bill Plunkett)Disney’s Land (Richard Snow)Ingenious (Richard Munson)Original Sin (Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson)Wool (Hugh Howey) Links:Buy Cal’s latest book, “Slow Productivity” at www.calnewport.com/slowGet 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://substack.com/@priscillaharvey1/note/c-133662492https://www.yahoo.com/news/zuckerberg-tells-court-facebook-no-171222971.htmlhttps://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/mark-zuckerberg-is-so-over-facebook-friends?srsltid=AfmBOoo4dysXG_2rXWDJaKnSdG6CfbCqf0O_8op_R1phpz5GQPx2F4XAhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7jar4KgKxshttps://pluralistic.net/2022/11/28/enshittification/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ai-fC-2Bpohttps://www.emarketer.com/content/openai-hires-its-first-cmo-kate-rouch-foreshadowing-adshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfUpEWAKPf8&t=2350s Thanks to our Sponsors:https://www.expressvpn.com/deephttps://www.oracle.com/deepquestionshttps://www.indeed.com/deephttps://www.calderalab.com/deep Thanks to Jesse Miller for production, Jay Kerstens for the intro music, and Mark Miles for mastering. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	What percentage of your time spent using technology is dedicated to services that make you feel worse?
0:08.5	Why do we end up entangled with tools that don't seem to have our best interest in mind?
0:14.5	How do we escape this fate and take back control of our attention and reclaim our lives?
0:21.0	Today, we're going to tackle these issues.
0:24.4	I'm Cal Newport, and this is Deep Questions,
0:28.1	the show about cultivating a deep life in a distracted world.
0:32.3	Today's episode, what technology wants, and how to push back.
0:36.8	Thank you. what technology wants and how to push back.
0:52.6	Part one. A Tale of two technologies.
0:59.4	So, Jesse, I don't know if you noticed this, but several people sent us the same substack post recently.
1:02.0	It had an arresting photo.
1:03.6	I'm going to put this up on the screen for people who were watching instead of just listening.
1:07.3	You see in this photo something you don't normally see.
1:10.3	The young kid laying on a couch
1:12.0	talking on an old-fashioned hardwired landline, the whole curly wire and everything.
1:19.8	Here's what the author of this essay, Priscilla Harvey, wrote. I bought my kids an old-fashioned phone to keep smartphones out of their hands while still letting them chat with friends, but it has turned into the sweetest, most unexpected surprise, my son's new daily conversation with his grandmothers. This is how I keep finding him, stretched out on the couch, phone pressed to his ear, intently
1:44.5	focus and listening to the matriacs of our family.
1:47.1	I hear laughter and sense a deeper connection blossoming in these conversations.
1:51.7	There's no scrolling, no distractions, no comparisons, no dopamine hits the chase.
1:55.9	Instead, he is just listing the stories, asking questions, and having the comfort of knowing
2:00.2	someone who loves
2:00.9	him is listing on the other end of the line. Somehow what was once ordinary in my childhood
	...

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