What’s not to love about podcasts? They’re educational, entertaining, and free. I’ve been a fan since I downloaded my first one on my iPod Nano back in 2008.
I’ve listened to countless hours of Radiolab, This American Life, Invisibilia, Serial, and S-Town. I’d recognize Jad Abumrad’s voice in a crowded room.
I’ve also listened to amateur podcasts about arcane topics. I may admit to streaming them if I remembered the titles.
I’ve discovered interesting books and authors through podcasts. I’ve stumbled on topics to write about and people to interview. Podcasts helped me stay entertained during long nights pacing with crying babies and harried days at home with two little boys.
So why would I take a break from podcasts? In December, I was assigned to write an article with the title: “Is it Bad to Listen to Podcasts All Day?”
My immediate answer was, “No way! That’s my dream life!”
But then I dug into the research and reflected on my podcast habit.
My total listening added up to about one to two hours a day, or 7 to 14 hours a week. That put me in the super listener category, according to Edison Research. I usually listened when I was doing something else, like getting ready in the morning, cooking, walking, or driving.
I thought of my listening habit as a good thing. I love learning new things.
But as I revisited the research on multitasking, I wondered if trying to listen to podcasts while I hustled through life was causing me mental stress and fatigue and was actually dumbing me down. (Multitasking does that.)
Plus, some of the podcasts I was listening to were about how to live a more mindful life. And multitasking is, ahem, the opposite of mindfulness.
So I decided to do an experiment. I gave up podcasts for two weeks and replaced them with silence. Just me and my wandering mind. What happened next amazed me.
I felt relieved.
The first time I stepped out the door for a walk without glancing at my podcast feed felt like a vacation. Then I had the same sensation when I got in my car.
I wasn’t expecting to feel relief, because I thought of podcasts as something I enjoyed. But, like most people, I’m bombarded with choices and decisions constantly, which is draining. Not having to scan through feeds and find a podcast was refreshing.
Plus, it felt great to turn off the chattering in my ear (even if in this case, the chattering was entertaining me with well-crafted stories and occasional profound insights).
I live with two chatty little boys, who enjoy listening to Taylor Swift songs at high volumes. Our house is noisy when we’re all home. When I’m home alone, I read, research, and write a lot, so my mind is a busy place.
Quiet sounded so good.
Of course, this shouldn’t have surprised me. I’ve experienced enough quiet in my life to know it’s restorative.
Silence is regarded as holy in most religions. Spiritual people of all traditions herald the importance of quiet contemplation. Mother Theresa equated silence with prayer.
And scientists have discovered the power of silence accidentally when they used it as a control in research. In one study, researchers discovered that a two-minute silent pause in a piece of music was more beneficial for the body and nervous system than relaxing music.
In another study, two hours of silence a day caused mice to grow new functioning neurons in the hippocampus region of their brains. Imke Kirste, the lead researcher, theorizes that if the same results are found in humans, someday silence may be used to treat conditions like dementia and depression
But sometimes you have to immerse yourself in quiet to remember how healing it is.
Everything got easier.
When I turned off the podcasts when I was doing housework, the residual backlog of dishes and laundry at our house disappeared. I zipped through making dinner, even complex recipes. And I felt calmer and more engaged when I was with my kids. (I didn’t usually listen to podcasts when I was hanging out with my family, but I often felt in a hurry to get back to the chores so I could listen to one.)
Writing also felt easier. I attribute this to having more free time to think. The brain goes into its default mode when it’s not concentrating, where it wanders and self reflects. This state is just as essential to learning as concentration. In my well-intentioned attempts to learn more, I may have been shortchanging myself of going into this just-as-important brain state
You may think that listening to a podcast while doing something else isn’t really multitasking in the way that driving and talking on the phone is. But listening to a podcast is actually hard work for the brain. The brain is five times more active when listening to a story than when listening to a list of facts. Add sound effects, multiple characters’ voices, and a relatively fast pace, and the brain is busy.
When people were hooked up to MRI machines while they listened to Moth Radio Hour for a study, “Widely dispersed sensory, emotional and memory networks were humming, across both hemispheres of the brain,” according to Benedict Carey of the New York Times.
In hindsight, it’s funny that I thought I could listen to a complex story at the same time as I was making a new-to-me recipe or navigating an unfamiliar route in my car.
But that’s the strange thing about multitasking. We think we can do it, even though the brain can’t focus on two things at once.
Research suggests we lose 40 percent of our productivity and are four times slower at learning new things when we multitask.
I certainly felt 40 percent more productive when I stopped. But this seems to be a lesson I must learn repeatedly. I hope I finally got it this time.
Real life was more interesting.
What could be the downside of listening to a steady stream of well-crafted narratives and conversations designed to make you feel a deep sense of awe? Real life and real conversations can feel a little ho-hum. There are relatively few earth-shattering revelations, profound insights, and moments of realization in everyday chitchat.
Worse, listening to podcasts can give you the illusion you’re already socializing, which makes real socializing feel less essential. Pamela Druckerman, a self-confessed recovering podcast addict, writes in the Atlantic: “Podcasts gave me the illusion of having a vibrant social life. I was constantly “meeting” new people. My favorite hosts started to seem like friends: I could detect small shifts in their moods, and tell when they were flirting with guests.”
I hadn’t thought much about these downsides of listening to podcasts until I gave them up. Within a couple days, I felt more eager to run into people and chat. And when I was conversing with people, I felt more refreshed and engaged.
Plus, when I went for walks without a podcast, even around my neighborhood, I was blown away by all of the beauty: murmurations of starlings, fog twisting through the hills, delicate patterns etched across iced-over puddles. Had I really been missing all this before? Oh right, my brain was busy listening.
I felt happier.
I felt notably calmer. I slept better. I felt more present and engaged with my family. I noticed fewer moments of stress or anxiety.
Plus, at times, I had a feeling of spacious expansion that I haven’t felt since I was a kid. One day I was bringing books up to my son’s room. It was raining, and I laid down on his bed and listened for awhile before I returned to my chores. Another day, I sat down and read poetry, which I haven’t done for years.
My time was mine again. I could just focus on what I was doing. Or just be.
Of course, changing any habit can be hard, and giving up podcasts was no exception. I felt symptoms that felt like withdrawal (similar to when I quit drinking coffee awhile ago). I especially felt antsy when I was cooking, which is strange because cooking requires a lot of focus (and some inherent multitasking). Fortunately, preparing food in the quiet got a little easier as time went on.
Going Forward
Of course, podcasts are fun and interesting, and I miss some of them. Will I listen going forward? How much? To what?
I’m not sure yet. But I know I’ll be more mindful about what I trade my quiet for. Plus, I’m swearing off multitasking (again). Lesson learned (again).
Will taking a break from podcasts (or social media, radio, or television) change your outlook as much as it did mine? There’s no way to know except to try. If you do (or if you have in the past), leave me a comment. I’d love to hear about it!