How to listen to podcasts if you hate podcasts:
I always have captions on shows/movies because I can’t ‘hear’ the dialogue without them. I understand and retain text much faster than audio. My brain creates a scrolling image – lines of text – of whatever’s being said when I’m in a conversation or listening to a recording. It’s easier and faster for me to read than listen, because for some reason my brain wants to convert verbal to written before it processes the meaning. 🤷♀️ I don’t know why.
But a lot of people I’m interested in cover topics I care about solely on podcasts.
So I have a little method for listening to podcasts without listening to podcasts.
For most people, it will be unnecessary and irritating and probably inefficient. For the folks who related to what I described, though, it might be helpful? Makes a big difference for me.
- I go to the episode page and download the episode.
- Upload it to a transcription service (I use Otter.ai).
- Get the audio transcribed.
- Use CTRL+F to find keywords and skip to the particular parts of the transcription I’m interested in.
- Highlight and make notes (Otter.ai has nice sidebar tools for this).
- I can then copy-paste my highlights/notes to wherever I need them. It’s easy to link to the episode page noting relevant timestamp if I want to share a highlight or thought (because ATTRIBUTION, always!).
Also, kudos to podcasters who publish the transcript on the episode page. Saves me a step.
annie's micro(b)log @timapple this might be a helpful trick when you want to revisit w/o listening to the whole thing again. I find when I listen to podcasts/audiobooks I will lose concentration on what I’m doing b/c I am focusing so hard on parsing the audio. I’m sure there’s some absorption but it tends to just distract/annoy me.
annie's micro(b)log @JMaxB Yes I feel the same. I understand the preference for audio (listening while you do other things is very appealing) but it doesn’t work for me at all… quite the opposite… I tried walking and listening to podcasts and would end up going slower and slower as I “listened harder” lol
Anna Havron I love this! Maybe it would work for videos as well, which I find terribly frustrating.
annie's micro(b)log @annahavron Oh let me know if you try that and how it goes! I find them frustrating too and 9/10 will click away if I get sent to an informational video instead of text.
Greg Moore It’s so interesting how brains process differently. I struggle mightily with reading because it takes so much more of my concentration to absorb and understand disembodied text. However, if it’s a book by an author I’ve heard or one they’ve made into a film, I can speed through like a normal person because I “hear” all the characters.
Greg Moore @JMaxB Makes total sense. I didn’t realize that my brain processed slightly different until I started paying attention to how quickly most people casually read through books and long articles.
Joseph joe does one hate podcasts? That’s like saying I hate the the thing I’m passionate about or interested in.
annie's micro(b)log @josephaleo Well for me it’s about not enjoying the format (audio) in which the content I’m passionate about or interested in is presented. So I want a way to get to the content in a different format.
Anna Havron @gregmoore When my daughter was in middle school, she came to me in tears over a printout with a complicated assignment. Somehow I got the brain wave to read it out loud to her, and she totally got it. She’s an auditory learner. It was so fascinating to me to see her comprehension get supercharged once we read something out loud.
Hollie Baggins-Kenobi @annahavron This is true for me, as well. My husband is a programmer and years ago told me about “rubber ducking”, where when you’re stuck on a problem, you say the problem out loud to a rubber duck, and in hearing yourself, you hear the problem and can solve it. I will often read through instructions in the same way, just to hear it said out loud. I always catch more if I do that. I’ve used this trick so many times now, and it really helps (I don’t have a rubber duck but the small succulent plant on my desk is a very good listener).
annie's micro(b)log @gregmoore that’s a fascinating distinction. Cool that you noticed it.
annie's micro(b)log @annahavron I’ve noticed this with my youngest child. She’s much better w verbal instructions. Easier for her to process and she can focus on the meaning rather than stumble over format. (For me it’s the opposite!)
Anna Havron @hollie I want you to know your remarks here inspired me to buy a finger puppet I did not need, so I could talk out some writing problems and see if it works for me.
Anna Havron I constantly tell my family, “you have to text me if you want me to remember something….”
Hollie Baggins-Kenobi @annahavron Hahaha, I love that idea! :) Let me know how it works. Maybe I’ll upgrade the desk plant.
annie's micro(b)log @annahavron @hollie this is hilarious. I talk to my cats… they get to hear a lot of very rough drafts
annie's micro(b)log @annahavron yes! Just today my son was reminding me of a conversation that I’m sure we had and I have zero memory of… 🤷♀️