Podcasts

Efficiency anxiety manifests itself in to-do lists and other forms of productivity tracking; it leads us to create onerous systems of scheduling to make up for our lost time rather than reducing our technological inputs. While everyone should be aware of the dangers of smartphone addiction in 2023, how many of us have stopped to consider why we're using the implements of the phone in the first place? Over the last week, I've been listening to countless podcast episodes related to diet and health. Since I lack time during the work week to investigate this area, I plug in my AirPods at every free moment to catch up. My problem is that I'm probably only retaining about 10% of the information from any podcast while deepening my dependency on my smartphone. Instead of spending one or two hours reading a few well-written blog posts, or a good book on the topic, I spend hours listening to a podcast while performing 'filler' tasks such as cooking, cleaning, or walking to the store. Many people, myself included, believe this to be the primary upside of this medium—we can engage with it while performing other less cognitively demanding tasks. Consistent engagement with podcasts saps the energy necessary for other cognitively demanding work; it steals idle moments that inspire all manner of creative work (not to mention contributing to the sense of information overload so embedded in information technology) and draws us away from the present moment. The harms produced by podcasts may outweigh any perceived benefits.