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Comment by Bjorkbat | Hacker News Reader

As someone who's struggled to really get into podcasts, I'm convinced that most people who enjoy podcasts don't really actively listen to them, they just like that extra bit of noise in the background while they do something else, with the added bonus that they might just listen at just the right time to pick up some interesting factoid.

Don't get me wrong, I like podcasts, Fall of Civilizations being a personal favorite of mine, it's just that my desire to try and actively listen to them requires that I carve out an hour (or much longer in the case of FoC, worth it) of my free-time to eliminate any distractions and focus. Pretty hard to do when there are so many other things I could be doing with my time besides sitting there trying my best to listen.

Anyway, I bring it up because I'm convinced that the people promoting AI-podcasts are mostly made up of the aforementioned people who just listen to them for noise.

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I used to listen to podcasts during my commute, when they took the place of listening to NPR or talk radio. Now that I work from home full time, I listen to them when I'm doing dishes or similar chores, going on walks around the city, and when I'm doing any significant amount of driving. I listen to a combination of comedy/history (love The Dollop), politics, and sci-fi commentary.

For the most part, I'm listening pretty actively, but if I'm just sitting there listening without a fairly mindless activity going on, I'll get distracted pretty quickly and find myself looking at my phone...

I don't get them either since the hosts are typically "regular people" talking about often complicated subjects that they are by no means domain experts in.

I find the format of "Dumdum Host A read some articles about something last night and Dumdum Host B asks questions about it" especially grating, unless it's purely opinion-driven and then I still probably won't care unless I read about the hosts and find out they are probably people with opinions worth listening to.

I'd rather read a book or be with my own thoughts without having them be even more crowded by some randos telling me stuff they think they know

Not all podcasts are Joe Rogan

> I don't get them either since the hosts are typically "regular people" talking about often complicated subjects that they are by no means domain experts in.

Huh? Most podcasts I listen to feature either experts in the field in question or very skilled journalists compiling the opinions of experts.

Oh yeah, i definitely hate it when uninformed people try to make podcasts on specialized topics they obviously know nothing about. I went searching for niche physics podcasts (anything besides space stuff please!) And the amount of literal high schoolers and undergraduates attempting to explain things they're years away from even seeing in class is painful, most admit that they know nothing and are literally free-associating over a Wikipedia article. I give them a pass though since they have no listeners and are usually young but...

I exclusively listen to domain expert podcasts. History experts, policy/economics experts, aforementioned physics experts. Literally event i listen to is hosted by at least one person who is a domain expert. They can branch out and interview experts in other domains but there's always an expert. I honestly can't say (besides the high schoolers which i searched out) the last time i've even test listened to a podcast hosted by semi-charismatic article readers.

I'd recommend you search reddit for lists of podcasts in your desired area. App recommendations are all shit and there's many posts out there

> Don't get me wrong, I like podcasts, Fall of Civilizations being a personal favorite of mine, it's just that my desire to try and actively listen to them requires that I carve out an hour (or much longer in the case of FoC, worth it) of my free-time to eliminate any distractions and focus.

I don't see why that should be true. Podcasts are great when coupled with mindless work like mowing the lawn, weeding the garden, stacking firewood, walking to the shop, driving etc. You can get virtually 100% out of a podcast while performing tasks like this.

I figured people listened to them while commuting. It seemed the best fit: lots of time, mostly little attention needed (except when you alight or are driving in adverse conditions).

I don't understand enjoying podcasts while just using them for background noise. Maybe because I actually listen, and most podcasts I listen to seemed to have an engaged audience. But then I like listening to people talk about philosophy, politics, sports, true crime, science, history.

I agree. I think I listen to podcasts just for a bit of "social noise" when I'm doing something by myself and for occasionally picking up on something new I hadn't heard of before. For pure information content, I think they're actually very poor. It's not unlike listening to an old AM radio talk show. Hosts repeat themselves, engage in banter, and often oversimplify topics for the sake of a narrative.

I also think AI podcasts could become popular one day for people who just want some background noise and bits of trivia every once in a while. I would argue that a lot of YouTube channels I sometimes have in the background just summarize Wikipedia articles and don't have much of a personal touch anyway, so an AI could do the same thing.

I switched to improvised pods for this reason. Podcasts are for doing the dishes and mowing the lawn and playing factorio. I don't turn on anything with 'meat' unless I have a long car trip ahead of me. I just am not able to sit still and only listen without feeling like I could be doing something else, and when I'm doing something else I'm gonna start tuning out eventually.

Hey Riddle Riddle, Hello from the magic tavern, Artists on artists on artists on artists are my picks for now.

There is nothing you are supposed to be doing with free time, hence free time.

Tbh tho, there is nothing that we are supposed to be doing in this world rn anyways, nobody was born to work any of these jobs, we didn't evolve to flip burgers.

This is the old world, don't place too much stake in it, everything will change and then what?

If you want to listen to a podcast, do it. If you want to do something else, do that.

Don't do what you don't want to do, that's all there is too worry about.

This is partially true for me, but when I listen to podcasts it’s generally in what would otherwise be dead time for me such as when grocery shopping or exercising.

Having this strong of an opinion on something you admittedly don't understand (the appeal of podcasts) is not a great choice. Maybe ask people instead of making up stuff.

I have very strong opinions on lots of things I can't understand why people like doing, I don't need to understand someone's satisfaction before I determine how I feel about what they are driving satisfaction from. That's ridiculous.

I think people can't be alone with their own minds so they fill every second of there quiet time with someone else's thoughts rather than their own.

> I'm convinced that most people who enjoy podcasts don't really actively listen to them,

Or you know not everyone is the same. Just because you struggle with something doesn’t mean that it is not easy and effortless for others.

I can’t dribble a basketball and walk at the same time, still I won’t make the claim that everyone who claims to enjoy playing basketball is somehow fudging it.

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