Matt Walsh on Leisure and the Modern Man

The Catholic Man Show

Leisure, Religion & Spirituality, Christianity

4.9 • 739 Ratings

🗓️ 22 July 2025

⏱️ 17 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Matt Walsh on Rest, Leisure, and Why Men Need to Get Off Their Phones

In this episode of The Catholic Man Show, Adam Minihan and David Niles sit down with Matt Walsh — Catholic commentator, author, and host of The Matt Walsh Show — for a conversation on leisure, manhood, and how technology is reshaping our minds.

Matt shares his perspective on the modern man’s crisis of leisure, the dangers of mindless scrolling, and why intentional hobbies like fishing or board games are more than just recreation — they’re necessary for the soul.

They discuss:

Why men today are worse at leisure than their grandfathers
How social media disorders our view of rest
The connection between leisure, joy, and being fully human
How to foster habits of real leisure in your home and family
Why every man needs one good hobby — and why that hobby should help you disconnect

Matt also reflects on the importance of silence, presence, and being able to simply “be” without needing to consume content or noise.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	The other thing is on social media these days, some of the stuff that the algorithm will serve you can be disturbing, can be...
0:09.0	Disordered.
0:10.0	Yeah, it's like, and it's this wild, wild extremes, because if you're on X, for example, and you're, one second, you might see a cute video of a cat or something.
0:22.0	And then the next video is someone getting carjacked and shot.
0:25.9	And it's like your mind is wildly veering between all these different modes.
0:32.7	And it just can't be healthy.
0:38.5	Hey, Matt, great to be with you today.
0:42.3	We want to talk about leisure.
0:44.7	And when I think about man today, he's got all kinds of machinery, conveniences,
0:51.4	things that are supposed to give him so much more time for leisure.
0:56.2	But I'm curious if you think, is man today actually capable, more capable of leisure than, say,
1:03.6	a man from 100 years ago?
1:05.8	No, I would say definitely not.
1:07.7	I think not at all.
1:09.7	And a big part of it is the, is the, you know, the little boxes we all carry around in our pockets
1:15.6	that eats up what could be actual restful leisure time, edifying leisure time.
1:27.0	And so that's a problem. We've made life more convenience. We have a lotifying leisure time. And so that's a problem.
1:28.4	We've made life more convenience.
1:30.1	We have a lot of free time.
1:31.7	But then it just gets absorbed into this box, you know.
1:36.1	And I think that's, and there's nothing wrong.
1:37.9	I make my living on the internet.
	...

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