I’ll cut to the chase on this one. We all should be listening to podcasts because we’re busy. Not that I ever was the type to sit down with a cup of coffee and the morning paper, but who has time — or is willing to make the time — to read a daily paper? Unless you’re a mass transit commuter, really early riser, or have a job that doesn’t require you to bill in 15-minute increments (0.75 spent “reading the paper” is non-billable, you guys), you’re probably consuming your news the same way I do: in whatever small, digestible snippets you can get in between client calls, a flooded inbox, and incessant Skype chats.
From the moment I wake up until I’m two glasses of wine into dinner, I’m thinking about client work. Eventually, around 8 or 8:30 p.m., I’ll settle in for the evening and scroll through Facebook to catch up on what’s going on in the rest of the world. But because I spend 8-9 hours a day in front of a computer reading things, the last thing I want to do at night is stare at a screen, reading more things.
I’ve recently fallen in love with podcasts. Yeah, I know they’ve been a thing for a while, but I grossly underestimated their value. Now I’m totally into them and here are four reasons why.
They’re brief.
Two shows I listen to regularly, NPR’s “Up First” and “The Daily” from The New York Times, last anywhere from 10-25 minutes. That’s perfect listening material for when I’m making breakfast or walking my dog. This morning, I listened to a few during a run. When I finished, I felt smarter and healthier.
They’re targeted.
There are podcasts for just about every topic, from money to business, politics, entertainment, personal essays, and more. When I turn on my TV, I’m at the mercy of whatever CNBC’s editorial team deems important for the day. (But do you have to talk about that for 3 hours straight?) With podcasts, I’m in charge.
They’re like listening in on a conversation with real people.
What bugs me about many TV news programs is that oftentimes the interviewees are so adamant about getting across their point (their talking points, that is) that they miss the point. What I love about podcasts like “The Daily” is that it almost seems like host Michael Barbaro and other NYT reporters are just shootin’ the shit, talkin’ about the big issues they report on every day. It’s like I’m in a coffee shop every morning with some really smart people. And they’re talking about things in a way that’s understandable.
I feel smarter.
When you live in Washington, D.C., where it seems like 99 percent of the population works for the government doing crazy jobs I can’t even pretend to understand, no amount of education or international travel will ever make me feel like I could carry on a conversation about anything other than the weather. (Even then, geez, there are people here who really understand weather patterns.) While listening to “Freakanomics” will never compare to the dual master’s that guy over there got in economics and world domination, at least I can sort of follow along. WIN!
