Share

cover art for Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World

This Week in Business

Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World

American adults spend more than 11 hours per day watching, reading, listening to or simply interacting with media, according to a recent study by market-research group Nielsen. Cal Newport, Associate Professor of Computer Science at Georgetown University, joins host Stew Friedman on Work and Life to talk about how we can all take a step back and remember the offline world, where you can get lost in a good book or hold a conversation without constant glances at your smartphone. Cal's most recent book, Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World, offers lessons on how to set rules and boundaries that help us find the quiet in this tech-saturated world.

More episodes

View all episodes

  • Regulating Foreign Insider Trades on U.S. Stock Exchanges

    13:56|
    Dan Taylor, Professor of Accounting at the Wharton School, discusses how his research helped shape new legislation requiring foreign company executives to disclose stock trades and protect U.S. investors from opportunistic insider selling.
  • Faculty Prediction Series: Residential and Commercial Real Estate Trends for 2026

    09:57|
    Susan M. Wachter, Albert Sussman Professor of Real Estate at the Wharton School, discusses the outlook for housing and commercial real estate, focusing on inflation trends, interest rates, inventory challenges, and what these forces mean for markets in the year ahead.
  • Faculty Prediction Series: Assessing Inflation, Jobs, and Markets Heading Into 2026

    10:13|
    Jeremy Siegel, Wharton Emeritus Professor of Finance and Senior Economist at WisdomTree, shares his perspective on the state of the U.S. economy, analyzing recent rate cuts, inflation progress, employment data, tariff uncertainty, and what they could mean for markets and growth in 2026.
  • Faculty Prediction Series: The 2026 Labor Market Outlook and What Comes Next

    10:37|
    Matthew Bidwell, Wharton Professor of Management, reflects on the cooling labor market, the influence of artificial intelligence, hybrid work dynamics, and what workers and graduates should expect as the economy heads toward 2026.
  • Faculty Prediction Series: Where Artificial Intelligence Stands Heading Into 2026

    08:14|
    Ethan Mollick, Co- Director of Wharton Generative AI Labs, examines how artificial intelligence continues to advance without slowing, highlighting its growing business adoption, potential labor market effects, and the importance of guardrails as organizations prepare for 2026.
  • Free Versus Fair Trade in a Changing Global Economy

    10:32|
    John Zhang, Wharton Marketing Professor, discusses his recent analysis of free versus fair trade, explaining the economic assumptions, political incentives, and distributional consequences of tariffs in today’s global trading system.
  • Why Today’s AI Bubble May Fuel Tomorrow’s Economic Growth

    10:57|
    Lynn Wu, Wharton Associate Professor of Operations, Information and Decisions, explains why today’s AI investment frenzy, while exhibiting bubble-like characteristics, represents a vital phase of technological evolution—driving infrastructure development, enabling future economic spillovers, and laying the groundwork for transformative advancements across industries.
  • Understanding the True Costs Behind Credit Card Lending

    11:07|
    Itamar Drechsler, Wharton School Professor of Finance and Co-Director of the Rodney L. White Center for Financial Research, explains the economic forces behind high credit card interest rates, highlighting the roles of defaults, operating costs, marketing expenditures, and market power in shaping what consumers ultimately pay.
  • Examining How Amazon Fulfillment Centers Influence Local Economic Growth

    11:56|
    Serguei Netessine, Professor of Operations, Information and Decisions and Senior Vice Dean for Innovation and Global Initiatives at the Wharton School, discusses new research analyzing how Amazon fulfillment centers affect county-level employment, median household income, and poverty rates.