The pandemic was hard for me. I had a lot of anxiety, something completely new for me (I'm 40). Now I'm recovered, and my life is much better than before the pandemic. One of my improvements has been to (mostly) stop listening to podcasts. Now I crave silence. When I cook, I cook. When I eat, I eat. When I'm with family, I'm with family. Some podcasts are great, but my experience is that they fill your head with noise, and this is not good at all. Some podcasts are truly informative, but most of them just seem informative. It's like Twitter. At the beginning, we all had the feeling Twitter was all insider information. Now we know that Twitter is mostly noise (with some exceptions). The same for most podcasts. And even if they conveyed true and useful information, without noise, we need silence to digest the experiences of the day, and we need silence in order to focus on what we are doing.

I couldn't agree more. To me, the single greatest downside of the internet age is sensory overload. I find that having the time to reflect, be in the moment, and savour experience, is so important. When I get into those habits, and spent a lot more time offline, I feel more fulfilled.

It is exactly that. And, it is not even to find time to reflect, it is to find time to do nothing, or just to focus on that activity that is in front of me, such as preparing dinner for my kids, or watching them play.

I had the same thought, especially towards the end of the article when he described how he listens to a podcast with his wife, while grocery shopping.

While I'm certain grocery shopping isn't the most mentally stimulating form of activity, it's still "quiet time" (relatively, anyway) that my brain craves.

I remember growing up before smartphones were ubiquitous. I never had an iPod or mp3 player, so I'd just be alone with my thoughts for 40 minute bus/subway rides. It sounds like torture today, but I actually look back on that with some bittersweet jealously... simpler times.

I reviewed the situations that I listen to a podcast (there are quite few):

1. In the car, because it beats listening to radio commercials 2. Washing up at night, because I hate washing dishes but putting something on distracts me enough to power through.

I suppose it depends on what you subscribe to.

> I'm driving or walking or cooking or cleaning.

> It's noise that minimally engages

What's a better alternative? Listen to the vacuum cleaner? to the other's cars engines? To the top 10 reggaeton mix?

I use every single "non thinking" activity I do (like driving, cleaning, walking outside, etc) to listen to things that really interest me, from news about the tech industry, to web dev subjects I'm interested on, to astrophysics and general science divulgation, etc.

The amount of stuff I've learnt and the entertainment provided is invaluable to me, and just using time otherwise I'd be just hating my life for being stuck in a traffic jam.

The alternative is reflection. Thinking about your day, the task at hand, some other thing in the future. Being focused on your real life vs some content meant to pull you in to listen to advertisements.

Your brain defrags when it's bored. If you're 100% engaged at all times, your mind gets jumbled and muddy.

This is true for kids (no 24/7 screen time, they need to be bored out of their minds at least once a week) and for adults.

Do you set aside time for yourself to just do nothing and let your mind reflect and contemplate? Sometimes when going for runs/walks I find myself thinking about all sorts of things, sometimes related to work or a project but also just random things. It’s nice to not always give your brain an agenda and see what it comes up with itself.

> It’s nice to not always give your brain an agenda and see what it comes up with itself.

On day's when my brain is functioning properly that's great, it can be really nice. On the days when it isn't I would much rather be listening to some pointless waffle from podcast hosts than dwelling on something I did wrong 15 years ago and how that makes me a terrible person.

> What's a [_potentially_] better alternative?

Mind activity. The activity of problem solving, organizing thought, taking decisions - when e.g. you mentally organize your time, you actively problem solve. With the listening, you are processing information, which is different. A lesson in mathematics is radically different from solving mathematical exercises.

But one is all for optimizing time and if you find that meeting information e.g. while driving works well for you, comes natural and fruitful - that is just excellent!

Also, there are the mental breaks, which are necessary part of the whole process like phases in breathing. I am not sure the car is optimal for them though.

All three things have their space.

being present in the moment. not always being productive or entertained

They can definitely do that. For me, podcasts are great for distracting my brain when I’m dealing with executive function issues. Lack of external mental stimulation can be physically painful for me. Cooking without podcasts or the TV equivalent is impossible.

When I’m able to think deeply with silence or music, I do. Podcasts just fill the gap between those times.

This is a very powerful coping mechanism for me. For someone who is neurotypical, I can easily see how one can form some bad habits.

Precisely this for me. Sometimes I find it easier to concentrate on getting things done with some background noise that I can tune in and out of - the alternative is not having that and instead finding 3 hours later that I haven't got anything done because I fell down a totally pointless rabbit hole.