On podcasts and time
l used to like podcasts, I have fond memories, 10 years ago (?), of listening to 99% invisible while walking around town doing errands, or sitting on public transport, sight lost on a point beyond the horizon, it felt good, it felt like I was learning and I was entertained at the same timeā¦ what happened?
Why I canāt go back to that?
Joe Rogan changed the game
I have listened to few Rogan podcasts over the years, they have the depth of a stoner circle, because Rogan is a pothead, but sometimes he had interesting people on that I wanted to listen to for 3 hours, just to get a sense of who they were.
And isnāt that a problem right there?
Iām not getting to know shit actually, just a random person, going on some random collection of topics, sometimes with good insights, but most time with just pointless drivel.
The investment of time does not justify the return:
- I spend real time (3 hours is a huge amount in a single day!)
- I might get some nuggets of information, but mostly is sub-par entertainment
I have changed
I no longer walk around town for hours on end getting stuff done, most shopping is optimised through the screen (I have paid my fair share of Bezos mega-yacht), I no longer need to sit on public transport or commute for long, in general, I no longer have time to waste, because thatās what podcasts are, a way to fill an otherwise wasted time.
We used to put on the radio and run the laundry, cook dinner, go to work, sit waiting for a dentist appointment, we took that filler and personalised, now everyone got their own radio programming, music, talk show, advertising, all personalisedā¦ and I just donāt care for any of it.
I find myself sitting in silence and just listening to my surroundings: waiting for the car to get fixed? Just sitting there, looking around, hearing the chatter in the background, some dance radio in the distance (whatās that all about btw? Car mechanics and dance music?), powertools breaking any law on safe sound limits, me listening, thinking, of something, of nothing.
I like that, I like claiming back the space for my mind to set the programming, to let it take me in deep thought if it feels like, or the shopping list, to just be.
I think my quest of removing more and more of this virtual social world is to attune once again to the physical social world and with that, myself.
Single portion friends
In Fight Club Edward Norton character has a fun bit about āsingle portionā friends on the plane and how that reflects back to all of his life (or something like that, it has been 25 years since that film came out!).
I am thinking something similar to all these podcasts personalities, they become your āfriendsā but is a one way relationship, you know them almost intimately, and you are just a statistic at the end of a sponsoring dealā¦ why are you degrading yourself like this? Why are you so desperate for a connection to almost become sub-human in the pursuit of it?
I found my answer (local, no distractions, be present in my moment), I think, you will need to find yours, but there is a better way than this, trust me, trust yourself, you already knew all of this anywayā¦ this is the sign you were waiting for.