Do Hard Things (Featuring: Jerry Seinfeld)

Last week, Google announced that, in response to pressure from parents and educators, it would allow schools to turn off AI tools in their widely used education apps. Cal Newport analyzes this announcement and provides a logical explanation on how to react to this recent news. Chapters: 00:00 Intro: Google's ultimatum to schools 01:59 What's actually going on? 05:23 Can Google really not separate Search from AI? 07:25 The real reasons Google is doing this 08:43 How should we react? Option 1: Sue Google 10:54 Option 2: Switch search engines 13:37 Option 3: Legislation 16:12 Final thoughts: Get out of our classrooms Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It’s becoming increasingly clear that the negative impact of phones on our lives is larger than we’d like to admit. Maybe it’s time to move beyond tips and hacks to explore more serious interventions. But what would these look like? In this episode, Cal dispatches correspondent Dale Davidson on a world-spanning investigation of some of the more extreme solutions people have deployed to reclaim their lives from their devices. 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 (0:00) Can we escape our internet hell? (4:36) Act 1 (27:37) Act 2 (41:40) Act 3 (1:06:46) Closing comments 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/ https://internetaddictsanonymous.org/ https://www.thatpracticalmom.com/ https://hangingup.substack.com/ https://www.henrikkarlsson.xyz/ https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/phone-screen-time-prison-pg-sittenfeld-8c3b186b?st=JjqsTg&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12978896/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9d5anXG3QM https://hangingup.substack.com/?utm_campaign=profile_chips https://substack.com/@camclaren/note/c-98575673 Thanks to our Sponsors:  https://www.incogni.com/deepquestions https://www.cozyearth.com (Use code “DEEP”) https://www.calderalab.com/deep https://www.indeed.com/podcast Thanks to Jesse Miller for production and mastering, Nate Mechler for research and newsletter, and Ben Crain and Rob Montz for video editing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Two years ago, The Atlantic featured a distressing story about elite college students who could no longer read books. Last week, The Wall Street Journal offered some hope that things are getting better. An article by Pamela Paul described how Harvard’s ‘brutal’ humanities course, Hum 10, which requires students to read one hefty book per week, has become extremely popular. In this short episode, Cal explores why this is happening and what it tells us about how best to resist our would-be digital overlords. More from Cal Download Cal’s FREE guide to cultivating a deeper life: calnewport.com/ideas Learn more about Cal’s books: calnewport.com/books Listen to Cal’s podcast: thedeeplife.com/listen Chapters: 00:00:00 Intro: Can college students still read books? 00:01:03 Harvard's Hum 10, the brutal class everyone wants 00:02:31 Why students are choosing the hard way 00:04:47 Reward shortcutting and early social media 00:08:21 TikTok and shortcut engagement 00:11:49 Generative AI and the shortcut to knowledge 00:16:27 Outro: The growing push against shortcuts Credits: Podcast Production: Jesse Miller Newsletter/Research: Nate Mechler Theme Music: Jay Kerstens Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It’s become hard to talk about technology. Commentators have split themselves into two increasingly extreme teams: the pessimists and the optimists. But what about the rest of us who don’t hate technology but are wary of obvious harms? In today’s episode, Cal proposes a third option: technoselectionism. 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 (0:00) Is technology good or bad? (35:19) Applying digital minimalism to LLMs (38:19) An overlooked negative impact of using too much AI (40:22) A reformed relationship with social media (42:20) An article about focus, writing spaces and New Yorker staff writers (49:52) What Cal is up to October Books: Simplify (Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen, Roy Schwartz) Telephone (John Brooks) Roll That Calls (Ari Emanuel) Cancel Me If You Can (Dave Portnoy) The Treeline (Ben Rawlence) 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/ https://ludditebicentenary.blogspot.com/2012/04/12th-april-1812-letter-from-g-ludd-to.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com https://economics.mit.edu/sites/default/files/2024-04/Learning%20from%20Ricardo%20and%20Thompson%20-%20Machinery%20and%20Labor%20in%20the%20Early%20Industrial%20Revolution%20-%20and%20in%20the%20Age%20of%20AI.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/answering-the-techno-pessimists-complete?hide_intro_popup=true https://www.youtube.com/shorts/P4m8-9KJpTQ https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/its-time-to-dismantle-the-technopoly Thanks to our Sponsors:  https://www.vanta.com/deepquestions https://www.pipedrive.com/deep https://www.monarch.com (Use code “DEEP”) https://www.superhuman.com Today’s episode was produced and mastered by Jesse Miller. Nate Mechler provided research and newsletter support. It was edited by Ben Crain and Rob Montz. The theme music is from Jay Kerstens. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The most recent episode of the Acquired podcast featured a story about Jerry Seinfeld that provides a critical lesson for succeeding in our current AI moment.   Video from today’s episode: youtube.com/calnewportmedia (0:00) Do hard things (1:30) Technologies and jobs (5:22) AI today (8:19) The solution Links: Buy Cal’s latest book, “Slow Productivity” at www.calnewport.com/slow  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wm53dMsn5dk Today’s episode was produced and mastered by Jesse Miller. Nate Mechler provided research and newsletter support. It was edited by Ben Crain and Rob Montz. The theme music is modified from Jay Kerstens. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What happens when neat theoretical ideas about productivity are deployed in the messy real world? In this episode, Cal is joined by Haley Pulli, a productivity coach from the company DoneDaily, to discuss case studies of clients who initially struggled with some of Cal’s ideas and how they ultimately fixed the issues. 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 (0:00) When productivity theory meets practice (4:26) Time blocking (14:50) Multi-scale planning (24:16) Deep work (43:05) Attention residue (50:05) Shutdown ritual (54:05) Obsess over quality (1:00:07 ) Shallow work 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/ Thanks to our Sponsors:  https://www.vanta.com/deepquestions https://www.calderalab.com/deep (Use code “DEEP”) https://www.quo.com/deep https://www.masterclass.com/cal Thanks to Jesse Miller for production and mastering, Nate Mechler for research and newsletter, and Ben Crain and Rob Montz for video editing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Tesla’s recent demo of a rocket-powered Roadster doing a kick-flick over a parked car touched a nerve in me. It seemed to epitomize changes to the tech sector in recent years that have been largely negative. In this short episode, I jump on the mic to explain some of my developing thoughts surrounding these ideas. More from Cal Download Cal’s FREE guide to cultivating a deeper life: calnewport.com/ideas Learn more about Cal’s books: calnewport.com/books Listen to Cal’s podcast: thedeeplife.com/listen Chapters 00:00 Intro 02:40 Factor 1: Growth companies vs. stable companies 05:40 Factor 2: Engagement-pilling 08:00 Factor 3: Building useful products is hard 10:43 Why this is a problem — and what we can do about it 13:49 Outro Credits: Podcast Production: Jesse Miller Newsletter/Research: Nate Mechler Theme Music: Jay Kerstens Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A lot of attention has been paid recently to examples of AI going “rogue.” What’s missing from this discussion, however, is a more detailed explanation of what specific types of systems are causing problems. Taking a closer look at this problem reveals an issue that’s much more narrow and much more avoidable than some of the frontier labs would like you to believe. 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 (0:00) Rogue AI not inevitable. It’s a choice.  (54:00) The legal implications of rogue AI (1:00:03) Rogue AI sending advice emails (1:07:41) A reaction to the recent episode about “chatbots harming kids” (1:16:52) What Cal is up to October books:   Telephone: The first hundred years (John Brooks) 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/ https://openai.com/index/how-we-monitor-internal-coding-agents-misalignment/ https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/Paul-Ohm-Testimony.pdf https://www.science.org/content/article/exclusive-ai-agent-emailed-hundreds-researchers-help-it-told-us-why https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/09/opinion/children-screens-parents-health.html https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/21/technology/openai-attack-hugging-face.html?eafs_enabled=false https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/23/technology/openai-ai-breach-australia.html?eafs_enabled=false https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/10/anthropics-claude-ai-submitted-false-murder-tip-to-philadelphia-police/ Thanks to our Sponsors:  https://www.cozyearth.com (Use code “DEEP” for 20% off) https://www.gusto.com/deep https://www.meetfabric.com/deep https://www.pipedrive.com/deep Thanks to Jesse Miller for production and mastering, Nate Mechler for research and newsletter, and Ben Crain and Rob Montz for video editing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How do we stop from becoming so reliant on LLMs that we lose our ability to think. A new paper explores answers based on an unlikely source: rigorous mathematical models. In this episode, Cal explains the paper and its conclusions, arguing that once you cut through its complexity it yields a useful way of thinking about our current AI moment. 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 (0:00) An unlikely team tackles AI brain rot (38:08) What are Cal’s thoughts on how Jesse Singal describes AI? (56:29) A look at some vision documents (1:00:42) Cal’s advice for a parenting situation (1:03:16) What Cal is up to October books: Simplify (Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen, Roy Schwartz) 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/ https://arxiv.org/pdf/2609.03344 https://thedispatch.com/article/artificial-intelligence-hugging-face-security-death/ Thanks to our Sponsors:  https://www.factormeals.com/deep50off (Use code “DEEP50OFF”) https://www.calderalab.com/deep (Use code “DEEP”) https://www.notion.com/cal https://www.mybodytutor.com Thanks to Jesse Miller for production and mastering, Nate Mechler for research and newsletter, and Ben Crain and Rob Montz for video editing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Cal Newport takes a critical look at recent AI News. Cal interviews Emile Torres who provides a stark warning about AI. Video from today’s episode: youtube.com/calnewportmedia (0:00) A stark warning from a former AI doomer (2:01) Interview with Emile Torres (1:13:57) Cal recaps the interview with Emile Links: Buy Cal’s latest book, “Slow Productivity” at www.calnewport.com/slow  Thanks to Jesse Miller for production and mastering, Nate Mechler for research and newsletter, and Ben Crain and Rob Montz for video editing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices