I don't do podcasts. I can read faster - and more importantly - easily skim articles. I can't listen to something in the background, because I end up tuning it out if I'm concentrating on work or whatever. I live somewhere where I don't have an awful commute.
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.
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.
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 have had to switch from taking a train to driving to work. I use to be able to work on my food project, but now that is not possible. Podcasts have become my go to for the dead time.
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 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.
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.
Have you tried listening to podcasts during the commute? I've found that doing so helps me fit in some extra "learning" time that would otherwise just be me sitting in traffic.
I can give some recommendations of the ones I listen to if you're interested! Mostly front end development / shop talk type stuff.
It's been noted that the pandemic has caused a dip in streaming audio and podcast traffic, those moments of time when we are "busy but free" during commutes turn out to be valuable slivers of time in which we catch up and enjoy all that content. Lately I've been making up chores for myself just so I can have an excuse to play my audiobooks..
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