Listen. There’s a way to learn and be entertained, while accomplishing necessary tasks. There’s a way to have your questions answered, your curiosity sated, your brain tickled, and you don’t need your eyes, hands, or a desk. There’s a way to escape the mundanity, the overstimulation, and the ennui of daily life, and you don’t even have to leave your bed or your kitchen or your car. There’s a way to enhance your commute, errands, chores, and gym sessions, and you will walk away a little smarter. Listen. I’m talking about the way of the podcast, and all you must do is one thing: Listen!
I was never into talk radio or audio books. If I was going to listen to anything, it was always music. Then I moved abroad to a mega city and wanted something to occupy my mind while navigating the bustling streets during my lunch hour. Music made me feel languorous, so I wanted something more stimulating. It was then that I tried listening to podcasts. And since that day, I haven’t looked back. It’s something that I needed to adjust to initially, but now it feels natural, and I can’t imagine not listening to them.
The benefits of listening to podcasts are many. You work your brain more when you listen (a Snapple lid told me that?) You exercise focus and patience, and in turn you can increase your attention span. There’s no harmful blue light jabbing into your eyes from all the screens that pervade our lives. Instead, you get to use the most advanced screen: the mind’s eye. Just like reading a book, podcasts allow us to paint with our minds and flex our imaginations but without the restraints of sitting still in a well-lit environment free from auditory distractions. Plus, the production quality of podcasts can be excellent. Many feature top-quality sound mixing, sound effects, and even professional voice actors and personalities we know from the screen or the stage. Plus, podcasts come in different lengths. Ranging anywhere from a couple of minutes to a couple of hours, there’s bound to be a series or stand-alone episode that meets your needs and fits nicely into your schedule.
Whether you’re interested in the arts, celebrity gossip, ghost stories, true crime, food, travel, comedy, academic subjects ranging from economics to philosophy to medicine, or even just the latest news, there’s something out there for you. Podcast apps have some great features that make listening convenient and efficient. For example, you can control the playback speed: if it’s too fast, slow it down; if you are in a hurry to digest some news, speed it up. Did you miss something? Simply press a button to skip backwards 15 seconds. Already heard something before? Press another button to skip ahead 30 seconds. Some podcasts even provide transcripts that you can view online for reference or study. Plus, you can download podcasts onto your device so you can listen practically anywhere without needing Wi-Fi.
Listening to podcasts is a good way to relax, stimulate your mind, learn something, and allow yourself to simultaneously catch up on chores or errands or liven up your morning commute. There are so many English-learning podcasts too. Check out the Voice of America Learning English website and scroll down to the audio tab. They have a podcast series specifically for those wanting to brush up on their English or have a nagging grammar question finally explained.
