Couldn't imagine doing two things at once and calling one of them 'work' and the other 'learning'.
I can listen to a single episode on some subject, then days later basically retell the entire thing to my dad. And by the time I've finished retelling what I learned, it's burned in forever.
I imagine what's happening is that you're assuming that because you experience existence a certain way, _everyone_ must experience it that way too.
That’s been valuable to me because basic familiarity with something is a major step toward using it. Good hosts and guests have a casual style you don’t have to work to parse.
I also remember some portions of podcasts that end up not only relevant, but containing valuable context only available in that episode.
One example recently was the creator of Flask reflecting on what the community was now doing that he would not have done.
I transcribed some of this into the thread and I’m sure it would not have been something he would have put in a blog post. It wasn’t bad, but it was earnest and offered an emotional touch only the person affected by the experience could offer.
Audio-only is not as bad as video, in my experience. Probably still less-than in comparison to reading, but certainly an acceptable compromise particularly for people who struggle to read due to some disability.
It's relevant in this discussion because the content and the user's environment both determine whether a thing is "good" or "bad" (or as McLuhan would say... cold or hot). I personally don't listen to podcasts as a passive activity, I try to concentrate as if I were reading them to follow along with the concepts, but that's a function of what I'm listening to, I tend to favor theoretical discussions of concepts rather than people making jokes about the news or analyzing sports highlights or something that is more divided into discrete sections.
I can listen while driving a car, because driving a car is purely reactive (the GPS is telling me when to turn, and otherwise I simply react to signs, traffic lights, and other vehicles without thinking much). But listening while coding doesn't work, I'll have to constantly rewind to a section of stuff that I've tuned out while reading docs or thinking about something else.
On the other hand, if someone prefers listening to analysis of the previous day's NBA games and because they live in Houston they don't care about the Bulls vs the Knicks, who cares if they tune that part out and miss most of it? Listen while you're watching TV or cooking dinner if that's what floats your boat.
I can't listen to podcasts while programming, but I can certainly learn a lot from listening to podcasts while cleaning the car, or working in the garage, or mowing the lawn.
Learning: the acquisition of knowledge or skills through experience, study, or by being taught.
Podcasts are great for learning. They're not great for learning skills, but they're great for acquiring knowledge.
I prefer Snipd, they use a bit of ML to predict useful start and end points around where you toggle the capture. They also generate transcripts for the podcast and the snip itself. It’s not perfect, but it makes editing your highlights a lot easier.
The only thing I think I could "learn" through that kind of passive listening would be narrative stuff like history, or interesting global trivia. Maybe philosophy or policy at a stretch.
Good background podcasts are more conversational, repeat the same information twice, go slow and talk for long about one thing. So they work as background listening, but if you tried to actively listen you would feel like they are too long.
Already mentioned Dan Carlin's Hardcore History is amazing source of viewpoints and perspectives that completely upended my understanding of history.
> Couldn't imagine doing two things at once and calling one of them 'work' and the other 'learning'.
I doubt anyone here programs and listens to anything but essentially noise, be it music or podcast.
You cannot focus on two serious things at once. But that's not what we are talking about here. We are talking about doing a menial task like preping veg for cooking or cleaning doesn't require much attention. You can almost do those at autopilot and thats why people find it boring - because their minds wonder and seek stimulation. Since you dont need much attention for those tasks you can absolutely listen to audiobook or interesting podcast and learn something.