Ep. 398: How Do I Find Purpose in a Distracted World? (w/ Arthur Brooks)

2026-03-30 · 80 min · episode 398 · 10 entities

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Asserted relationships

→ appeared on Deep Questions with Cal Newport podcast

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evidence rules-v5
Ep. 398: How Do I Find Purpose in a Distracted World? (w/ Arthur Brooks)
→ hosted by Cal Newport person

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evidence rules-v5
Feed author/publisher: Cal Newport
→ discusses Education concept

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evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Education
→ discusses Technology company

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evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Technology
→ discusses Self-Improvement concept

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evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Self-Improvement

Entities found in this episode

concepts 4

mentioned Education concept

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evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Education
mentioned Self-Improvement concept

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evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Self-Improvement
discusses Education concept

0.40

evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Education
discusses Self-Improvement concept

0.40

evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Self-Improvement

persons 3

mentioned Arthur Brooks person

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evidence rules-v5
Ep. 398: How Do I Find Purpose in a Distracted World? (w/ Arthur Brooks)
mentioned Cal Newport person

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evidence rules-v5
Feed author/publisher: Cal Newport
hosted by Cal Newport person

0.55

evidence rules-v5
Feed author/publisher: Cal Newport

companys 2

mentioned Technology company

0.50

evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Technology
discusses Technology company

0.40

evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Technology

podcasts 1

appeared on Deep Questions with Cal Newport podcast

0.68

evidence rules-v5
Ep. 398: How Do I Find Purpose in a Distracted World? (w/ Arthur Brooks)

Episode description as stored

Here’s a key question: Did technology like smartphones make us miserable, or were we already miserable and smartphones made it worse? To help figure out this answer, I talked to Arthur Brooks, the #1 New York Times bestselling author and Harvard professor, about this new book: The Meaning of Your Life: Finding Purpose in an Age of Emptiness. In our conversation, Brooks argues that our current Age of Emptiness began in the 1990s, but technology like smartphones and social media made it worse. We then discuss smart strategies for finding purpose in our current moment. Below are the questions covered in today's episode (with their timestamps). Get your questions answered by Cal! Send an email to podcast@calnewport.com. Video from today’s episode: youtube.com/calnewportmedia INTERVIEW: How Do I Find Purpose in a Distracted World? (W/ Arthur Brooks) [1:44] INBOX: Tech employees being evaluated through LLM tokens [1:01:49] Can Cal comment on reading digital books? [1:07:35] WHAT CAL IS UP TO: What Cal is reading [1:13:00] Deep Work HQ update [1:14:37] Books: Mistborn (Brandon Sanderson) 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?gizmodo.com/tech-employees-are-reportedly-being-evaluated-by-how-fast-they-burn-through-llm-tokens-2000736627 Thanks to our Sponsors: monarch.com (Use code “DEEP”)butcherbox.com/deepdrinklmnt.com/deepmeetfabric.com/deep Thanks to Jesse Miller for production, Jay Kerstens for the intro music, Nate Mechler for research and newsletter, and Mark Miles for mastering. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices