"Podcasts have devastated my relationship to music. Confirmation of that sad fact came earlier this month in the form of my Spotify "Wrapped," the streaming service's personalized report of what I listened to this year, including a playlist of my top songs. In the past, this annual playlist supplied a loop of sonic pleasure, propelling me through workouts, dinner preps, and hours-long commutes. This year, I haven't even opened it."
"That is not to say I've embraced silence: According to Spotify, I spent 71,661 minutes on the app over the past 12 months. That's 49 days. But 55,088 of those minutes were spent streaming podcasts instead of songs. Whereas I used to listen to music all the time, now I fill every available moment with the sound of people talking."
"I suspect I'm not the only one. My change in listening habits comes from a compulsion that many people in my life share: to make every minute of the day as "productive" as possible. By that blinkered calculus, an informative podcast will always trump music. But listening incessantly to podcasts has actually narrowed my interests and shown me just how limiting too much information can be."
Spotify logged 71,661 minutes on the app over 12 months, with 55,088 minutes spent streaming podcasts rather than songs. An annual playlist that once provided music for workouts, dinner prep, and long commutes was left unopened. Every available moment became filled with spoken-word content driven by a compulsion to make time feel "productive." The shift narrowed musical interests and revealed how excessive information can limit curiosity. Morning routines now start with news podcasts while children prefer music. Daily listening includes BBC reports before coffee, long-form political podcasts across the ideological spectrum, The Daily at lunch, and verbal marathons at the gym.
Read at The Atlantic
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