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In his 2010 book “The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains,” Nicholas Carr argued that using the internet fundamentally rewires the human brain. The internet encourages users to consume a vast spread of information, but in a rapid-fire, surface-level manner. So much information is available on the internet, but because of the nature of the medium itself, which is designed to be fast-paced and transient, we tend to skim information and jump from topic to topic, forsaking the slow, in-depth digestion necessary for genuine wisdom. Carr argued that our brains aren’t designed to deal with the internet’s distractions, nor are they able to process a vast load of information.
Podcasts have erupted in popularity over a relatively short period of time, perhaps because they provide us with something we’re starved for: slow-paced, drawn-out, in-depth conversations.
Similarly, in her 2015 book “Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age,” MIT professor Sherry Turkle argued that the emergence of digital entertainment and communications—especially the cell phone—has detrimentally affected our ability to think, converse, and connect with others. She persuasively suggested that the ubiquitous presence of digital devices in modern life stifles self-knowledge, reflection, and empathy. With devices practically implanted in our palms, we rarely experience quiet and contemplation; we forget to look up; we avoid eye contact; we fall silent during flesh-and-blood interactions. Conversation, and the connection it engenders, has suffered.
For all of their excellent uses and positive attributes, laptops, tablets, cell phones, and other internet-connected devices threaten both deep, reflective thought and face-to-face human connection.
It’s remarkable, then, that the very technology that has saddled us with these challenges—the internet—may be helping to restore the art of critical thinking and conversing through the rise of podcasting.
Inexpensive home recording equipment has made podcasting accessible to the public, enabling creators to produce content independently. Austin Distel/Unsplash
A Sudden Rise
Podcasts are only about 20 years old at this point. The first podcast arrived in 2003, a political and cultural show called “Open Source” hosted by journalist Christopher Lydon. The technology that supported “Open Source” was developed by Adam Curry and Dave Winer and permitted listeners to download audio files from the internet as soon as they were published, like an audio equivalent of a blog. Rather than having to tune in to a show at a particular time, as with radio, listeners could access the content at any point after its publication, on demand.
The technology allowed creators to bypass traditional media gatekeepers: radio and television. Now anyone could be a broadcaster. New shows began to appear on iTunes, and in 2014, Apple included its podcast app with the release of iOS 8. A few highly successful podcasts, such as “Serial” and “The Ricky Gervais Show,” helped propel the medium. Podcasts grew from an entertainment form enjoyed by just one-fifth of the U.S. population in 2006 to 85 percent today.
Remarkably, some of the most successful podcasts don’t cater to the short attention span of people living in the internet age. Quite the opposite. Joe Rogan’s podcast, arguably the most popular podcast in the world, frequently clocks in at over 3 hours per episode. Another podcast with a huge audience, “The Tucker Carlson Show,” doesn’t shy away from 2-hour-long episodes. Other shows frequently cross the 4- or 5-hour mark and still garner millions of views. And all these programs contain is talking, usually just between two or maybe three individuals.
Podcasts invite slow, thoughtful conversations that counter clickbait-style distractions. George Milton/Pexels
Podcasts’ inexpensive and relatively simple format makes these long episodes possible. No TV network or corporate budget is there to stymie the natural flow of conversation. As Ben Weinberg wrote on his blog, “[Podcasts’] popularity to me involves the fact that you really can do a deep dive on any subject under the sun without being constrained to a time limit.” Podcasts are popularizing long-form conversations—the types of conversations that were more common before the internet and TV. People are hungry for it.
In addition to breadth and depth of analysis, podcasts offer something people aren’t getting from clickbait headlines and corporate-sponsored talking heads: authenticity. Because podcasts are relatively easy to produce and have a kind of “homegrown” history, listeners don’t expect perfectly slick productions or pre-scripted talks. In fact, they expect the opposite: They prefer raw, vulnerable, honest discussions. It’s more real and genuine than the overly produced corporate media. The combination of breadth, depth, and authenticity makes podcasts unique among the current array of digital media.
Wisdom Comes Slowly
The best podcasts today remind me of Plato’s dialogues: long, in-depth conversations between two people seeking truth. Like Plato’s dialogues, they involve a give and take between two individuals, and, like the dialogues, they move slowly. Wisdom isn’t something to be ripped haphazardly from a few Google searches or a TikTok reel. Wisdom comes slowly, through wrestling, reflecting, and concentrating on life’s most important questions.
Podcasts echo the old tradition of gathering to share stories. Aaron Blanco Tejedor/Unsplash
What W.B. Yeats wrote about peace can also be applied to wisdom: it “comes dropping slow/ Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings.” The best podcasts remind us of this important truth, and their popularity demonstrates that people are ready to listen.
Simple, unscripted conversations are the bedrock of human connection, Turkle pointed out. Podcasts model for us and invite us into those types of conversations. In his essay “The Work of Local Culture,” Wendell Berry recalled:
“There used to be a sort of institution in our part of the country known as ‘sitting till bedtime.’ After supper, when they weren’t too tired, neighbors would walk across the fields to visit each other. They popped corn, my friend said, and ate apples and talked. They told each other stories.”
That’s similar to what the best podcasts do; they are the digital equivalent of this old-fashioned tradition. They give us hope that, technological pressures notwithstanding, the most important human rituals will endure.
Before becoming a freelance journalist and culture writer, Walker Larson taught literature and history at a private academy in Wisconsin, where he resides with his wife and daughter. He holds a master’s in English literature and language, and his writing has appeared in The Hemingway Review, Intellectual Takeout, and his Substack, The Hazelnut. He is also the author of two novels, “Hologram” and “Song of Spheres.”
