One Perspective On Podcasting

This guy has an interesting take on Podcasting that I have been thinking about for a long time but been unable to put my finger on. The bottom line is that time is precious, and there are certain things I do with mine–each of which requires a certain amount of attention.

Podcasting is only worthwhile when you are regularly in a position that precludes you from getting any real work done. 1.

The only real scenarios that fit this in my view are commuting or working some sort of position where monitoring something is the main task (and the thing you are monitoring for doesn’t happen very frequently). In other words, if I am at work, for example, I am doing work that requires too much of my attention to get anything out of something being piped into my ear. On the other hand, if I have actuall free time, I am likely to spend it doing something more constructive than catching up on blog-oriented content, i.e. the opinions and goings-on of others that share my interests.

I’d much rather spend my free time learning something, or even better, creating something, i.e. programming, writing, etc. An audiobook is even an option, (since it’s basically reading) but not listening to the current, un-condensed opinion of my famous peers. It’s just not worth my time.

1. My buddy has posted a response to this opinion and forced me to re-examine my own post. I think some clarification is in order. What I meant to say was that if I don’t have a very specific type of free time, I cannot fit Podcasting content into my day. In other words, the free time has to be along the lines of commuting or doing casual work — not absolute free time or real thought-intensive work. And since most of my time is in one of those two modes, my Podcasting-compatible windows are few and far between. Far be it from me to say that it’s not worth anything to anyone, it just doesn’t fit for me currently.