In India, it can often feel like there are more people making podcasts than listening to them. Everyone is a podcaster. Every tech and finance bro, every amateur mythologist, every life coach. If you have something to say, say it into a podcasting mic.
I don’t make podcasts, I listen to them. Way too many of them.
It does not matter what the subject is. If produced well, I can listen to a podcast on anything, whether the economics of bowling alleys, the history of liturgical vestments, the hubris of venture capitalists, the failure of police reforms, or the rise of populism.
Fitting them into a busy day is not a problem. I listen to podcasts at 2X speed while walking (inside the house or outdoors), exercising, running errands and, troublingly, sometimes even working. Streams of information flow from the phone at high volume as I go about my day – to the annoyance of the people around me.
Which makes me wonder, if too much of a good thing is a bad thing, what is all that podcast listening doing to my brain? Am I turning it into mush with what might seem like a reasonable habit? Perhaps it is time I should start a podcast on the hazards of podcast listening.
