Ep 197. Cal Newport: A World Without Email

Work and Life with Stew Friedman

Cal Newport is an associate professor of computer science at Georgetown University, where he specializes in the theory of distributed systems. Cal is a New York Times bestselling author who writes for a broader audience about the intersection of technology and culture. He's the author of seven books, including Digital Minimalism and Deep Work, which have been published in over thirty languages, and about which he talked with Stew in earlier episodes (# 7 and # 111) . He's also a regular contributor on these topics to national publications such as The New Yorker, The New York Times, and Wired, and is a frequent guest on NPR. His blog, Study Hacks, which he's been publishing since 2007, attracts over three million visits a year. Cal is the only guest to have made three appearances on the Work and Life radio show in the eight years it’s been on air.

In this episode, Stew and Cal discuss his new book, A World Without Email: Reimagining Work in an Age of Communication Overload. Cal reviews the ways in which we as a human race need to adapt to the increasingly ever-present technology disrupting, as well as enriching, our world. He describes how this new book addresses what he’s learned since Digital Minimalism and enumerates strategies for harnessing email and related message systems (e.g., Slack) -- the “hyperactive hive mind,” as he calls it -- because they reduce productivity and make us anxious, distracted, and generally miserable. He introduces the concept of attention capital theory to help us understand the essential problem with email and, using examples from companies operating today, provides practical methods for bringing this theory to bear in our lives.

Here then is an invitation, a challenge, for you, once you’ve listened to the conversation. Think for a minute about your email workflow and try to identify one opportunity to reduce mid-task context switches -- when you have to interrupt your attention -- in that workflow. Share your ideas and any reactions to this episode by writing to Stew at [e-mail] or via LinkedIn.

---

Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.