A personal story about podcasts is that I usually listen to them during my commute. That means my podcast consumption went way down when the pandemic happened and I started mainly working remotely. I just don't have a defined suitable time for them anymore.
A few weeks ago I was sick and I put on some podcasts as I was resting. Made me realize how much I miss the content.
I wonder how much the radio/podcast industry is reliant on car radios and such.
I don’t listen to this particular podcast, but I do follow a few.
You don’t just… sit there and listen. (At least I don’t). Slap on some headphones and go for a walk, do household errands, etc. Put it on the background during your commute. Some folks have it on the background while they work, like people have done with radio shows for decades.
I listen to them while I run or do house work. I don't have a commute and if I listen to podcasts while I do knowledge work I either don't retain anything or my work suffers.
Travel has always been central to my podcast listening. Now that I work from home and have no commute, I've totally fallen off my previous habit. I was at peak podcast consumption when I had a long commute both ways.
It's not just about listening to the whole podcast while you travel - you just need to get far enough so you want to finish it. So I would imagine even short commute periods could result in a lot more listening.
I can attest to that - on an hour commute I often listen to 45 min worth of podcasts until hitting material that prompts self-reflection. Then the voice memo comes out.
I too have a commute, and find podcasts a nice way to stay current with news, learn something new, or hear about new stuff in areas that are interesting to you.
I can't really listen to podcasts while working since I can't really focus on the the talking while thinking about what I'm doing, so music is perfect. It can help keep me focused and gives me plenty of time for exploring new music.
The author's stance on Podcasts is just so odd. That you somehow can't enjoy both? Seems like he has an axe to grind or something.
One more data point:
Personally I only listen to podcasts on long commutes. This only occasionally happens when regularly needing to actually go to a physical office location in a nearby city.
Even then podcasts are competing with audiobooks or long phonecalls to people I don't often get enough free time to talk to.
It's not that I don't enjoy the format, I do, but I find it harder to fit into my life.
They fit in while doing other tasks. For me: cooking, driving and exercising. I only have a ten minute commute, but cooking twice a day and exercising add quite a bit of time.
I also listen to them at faster speeds. People generally talk slowly, and listening at 1.5x or 2x isn't much faster than most people read, so they can still be understood easily (and after an initial adjustment they no longer 'feel' fast). A ten minute commute, listening at 2x, will consume 40 minutes of podcast per day alone.
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