Ep. 351: Making the Internet Good Again

Deep Questions with Cal Newport

Tyler Cowen recently wrote an article arguing that spending lots of time online is in fact a good thing. In this episode, Cal looks deeper at Cowen’s argument and finds some surprising common ground. The internet can be a major source of good in your life, he argues, but only if you use it in the right way. He then answers listener questions and reviews the books he read in April.

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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: Making the Internet Good Again [5:06]

• What are good activities for “deep breaks”? [28:38]
• How can I approach parenting without resenting the sacrifices to deep work? [31:36]
• How does the deep life compare to David Epstein’s book, “Range”? [38:06]
• What is the difference between a “winner-take-all” field of work and “auction” field of work? [41:12]
• Does “following your passion” have any connection to “lifestyle centric planning”? [47:39]

CASE STUDY: Implementing the concept of “Eat The Frog” [52:48]

CALL: Introducing seasonality and the meetings being the work [55:07]

APRIL BOOKS: The 5 books Cal read in April, 2025 [1:06:08]

I, Robot (Isaac Asimov)
After Disney (Neil O’brien)
The Baseball Book of Why (John McCollister)
The Technology Republic (Alexander Karp and Nicholas Zamiska)
Everything is Tuberculosis (John Green)

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?
thefp.com/p/the-case-for-living-online

Thanks to our Sponsors:

shopify.com/deep
auraframes.com [Use promo code “DEEPQUESTIONS”]
indeed.com/deep
harrys.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.