The Good Thing About Hard Things

Cal Newport · 19 Oct 2026

Cal Newport did not write this page.

Every claim below was made in this piece, quoted word for word and numbered in the order the piece makes them, so you can read it there rather than take our word for it. The sentence above each quote is our reading of the claim, not their wording. Each quote was checked against a stored copy of the page at build time; where the two differ, the quote is the fact.

Our reading
Chatbots impair cognitive performance and persistence almost immediately, unlike the slower effects of earlier technologies such as smartphones

Their wordsWe're accustomed to slow-moving techno-cognition trends such as the negative effects of ubiquitous smartphone usage, which took years to emerge in the data. With chatbots, the negative impact is immediate.
Our reading
A life without serious, sustained, intentional thought is impoverished

Their wordsA key theme of my work in the technology critic space is that a life without serious, sustained, intentional thought is impoverished.

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