The whole world listens to podcasts and I find it complicated

Give me a day off and I will turn into a book devourer. If I have a week of sun, I stuff my friend's backpack full of thick books. One book every two days is my average, give me some pita and melitzano with it and I will be happily snoring on a terrace. But now I am dealing with the phenomenon of podcasts and I just find them a bit complicated.

Listening to a podcast, you used to do that on an iPod, until it got cluttered with illegally obtained mp3s of top 40 hits. That was much more desirable, because I have yet to meet the first 14-year-old with a podcast addiction. Although I suspect that they are being made as we speak. ’Here, child, here’s an unlimited podcast subscription for your birthday,‘ said not one grandma ever. But the podcasts are no longer just a trend, it seems commonplace, a statement that you are developing yourself while other dummies are not, because you listen to podcasts, the epo of the millennial. Just enjoy listening to a podcast while cycling, because at least that makes cycling do something for you and your intelligence instead of just letting your head be blown around with nothing.

I actually see podcasts as a slightly too long niche broadcast from Radio 1, while I just want to sing loudly and off-key in the car. Maybe it’s because I haven’t decided where to listen to them yet, because I obviously want to become smart while sitting. In the car, I prefer music over philosophy. In the sun, I love the silence of a book. On the couch, I find visuals quite nice with sound, especially on Netflix. And when I listen to them while working, my brain flips out, because too many stimuli.

But then the podcast just came to me. Because I had no idea what to vote for, I sent Steffi from FavorFlav a link. I thought it was a written ten-step plan, but no, it was a podcast. In all its glory. There it was, in my WhatsApp, waiting for me to tap it. Should I, should I not? But I had to research efficiently, because I had one car ride to decide who I was going to vote for. Honestly: that podcast actually laid out in a particularly wise, handy, and useful way which party did what on which issue within the EU. And just now I accidentally listened to a dissertation about the quarterlife misery on Spotify and maybe I was even nodding a bit between the lines.

My god, am I suddenly going to belong to the millennials who can appreciate a podcast from time to time? How smart. I just need to figure out if it listens better while I do the laundry or bike to the supermarket. Or on the toilet? Seems like an excellent location too.