Is Social Media More Like Cigarettes or Junk Food?

Save this storySave this storySave this storySave this story For this week’s Infinite Scroll column, Cal Newport is filling in for Kyle Chayka. In 1881, James Bonsack patented an automated cigarette-making machine, and, in the years that followed, smoking became…

How the Academy Awards Have Adapted to Catastrophe

Save this storySave this storySave this storySave this story Until two weeks ago, Oscar pundits were describing this awards season as “weird.” Unlike last year’s slate, dominated by Barbenheimer, the new crop of contenders had been thinned out by the…

Should You Question Everything?

Save this storySave this storySave this storySave this story Every few months, out of curiosity, I red-pill myself. Usually, I start with YouTube. The algorithm is extraordinarily responsive: give a couple of videos a thumbs-up, and your whole feed swerves…

What D.C. Saw at Donald Trump’s Second Inauguration

Save this storySave this storySave this storySave this story On Monday, after Donald Trump was sworn in as President, in the Capitol Rotunda, I was leaving the building’s security perimeter when I crossed paths with an Inauguration attendee who was…

Under the Radar Keeps Rollin’ Along

Save this storySave this storySave this storySave this story When Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II first adapted Edna Ferber’s epic novel “Show Boat” for the stage, in the nineteen-twenties, they were the wild-eyed experimenters of their day. The American…