Your Brain Is Being Hijacked - How To Quit Social Media (For Real This Time) | Cal Newport

Cal Newport explains how to quit social media in episode 355 of the Deep Questions podcast.

Buy Cal Newport's latest book, “Slow Productivity” at www.calnewport.com/slow

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.

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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:
Get a signed copy of Cal’s “Slow Productivity” at https://peoplesbooktakoma.com/event/c...
Cal’s monthly book directory: bramses.notion.site/059db2641def4a88988b4d2cee4657ba?
https://www.amazon.com/Four-Days-Week...
https://calnewport.com/on-ultra-proce...
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...
https://rehearsal.so/blog/how_to_stay...

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0:00 Quit Social Media
17:12 How can I become a better, more analytical thinker?
23:03 How can I stay motivated, productive, and balanced while working mostly alone during my first remote internship?
24:15 How much time should I dedicate to developing secondary skills?
26:15 How does TikTok seem to know so much about me?
37:50 What are the best workflow strategies when using AI agents?
43:38 A simple, analog approach to productivity
47:25 Too focused on metrics
55:10 The 5 Books Cal Read in May, 2025

Connect with Cal Newport:

🔴Visit Cal's BLOG and website: https://calnewport.com/blog/
🔴Check out Cal's books: https://calnewport.com/writing/
🔴Check out The Deep Life: https://thedeeplife.com

About Cal Newport:
Cal Newport is a computer science professor at Georgetown University. In addition to his academic research, he writes about the intersection of digital technology and culture. Cal's particularly interested in our struggle to deploy these tools in ways that support instead of subvert the things we care about in both our personal and professional lives.

Cal is a New York Times bestselling author of seven books, including, most recently, A World Without Email, Digital Minimalism, and Deep Work. He's also the creator of The Time-Block Planner.

The videos are considered to be used under the "Fair Use Doctrine" of United States Copyright Law, Title 17 U.S. Code Sections 107-118. Videos are used for editorial and educational purposes only and I do not claim ownership of any original video content. I don't use said video clips in advertisements, marketing or for direct financial gain. All video content in each clip is considered owned by the individual broadcast companies.

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