5 ms·

Podcasts are horrible for learning. They are nice entertainment while doing laundry, cooking or driving in case you feel that you've already taken enough breaks

Podcasts are horrible for learning. They are nice entertainment while doing laundry, cooking or driving in case you feel that you've already taken enough breaks for the day. I've listened to podcasts while taking a shower, but mostly I prefer some calm. Learning or reading wikipedia is something that requires my intense focus, and in turn I like to define my own pace. Couldn't imagine doing two things at once and calling one of them 'work' and the other 'learning'.

jjeaff 5y ago
Just depends on what kind of work I suppose. You could probably learn a lot from podcasts while, for example, driving a truck, or working as a security guard. I can't listen to podcasts while programming, but I can certainly learn a lot from listening to podcasts while cleaning the car, or working in the garage, or mowing the lawn.
- xattt 5y ago
  I am not sure about the science of this, but personally it has to be work that doesn’t involve speech/language processing. It would be interesting to set up an experiment to see which activities involve speech processing that you wouldn’t necessarily associate with that role of the brain.
anon23anon 5y ago
kind of feel like wikipedia is shitty for actual learning too except maybe for history
cortesoft 5y ago
I think different people learn in different ways. Some people struggle learning from reading, and podcasts might work for them.
euler2100 5y ago
Couldn't have said it better, learning from only listening can be really hard under several conditions when something happening in front of you can snatch your attention away and make you miss a big chunk of info.
- passerby1 5y ago
  Listening to podcasts for learning is not any worse than using wikipedia, considering wikipedia articles quality (not a popular reading, but a learning-grade one). Both are equally far from what's needed for learning.
- barry-cotter 5y ago
  That's what the back/rewind button is for, though for many purposes you'd be better off listening to lecture series than podcasts for learning. I know I learned a lot about development economics from listening to Duflo and Bannerjee's lectures.
Pxtl 5y ago
I've tried listening to Pluralsight courses as background noise and it does not work at all. Learning is an active activity, at least when it comes to skills. The only thing I think I could "learn" through that kind of passive listening would be narrative stuff like history, or interesting global trivia. Maybe philosophy or policy at a stretch.
- watwut 5y ago
  The thing has to be designed for background listeners to work as such. Lectures are designed for active listener and packed with dense information. Good background podcasts are more conversational, repeat the same information twice, go slow and talk for long about one thing. So they work as background listening, but if you tried to actively listen you would feel like they are too long.
yoyohello13 5y ago
I think podcasts are good for discovering new things about a topic. I often mark things down as “look into this more” to actually learn later.
Gwarzo 5y ago
This is purely an elitist viewpoint. Learning: the acquisition of knowledge or skills through experience, study, or by being taught. Podcasts are great for learning. They're not great for learning skills, but they're great for acquiring knowledge.
- jdgoesmarching 5y ago
  Yeah, it’s pretty dumb to assume that your experience of learning amounts to universal axioms about education. I have learned a ton from podcasts over the last decade. In fact, apps like Airr and Snipd have come on the scene just for people who like to capture notes from podcasts. I prefer Snipd, they use a bit of ML to predict useful start and end points around where you toggle the capture. They also generate transcripts for the podcast and the snip itself. It’s not perfect, but it makes editing your highlights a lot easier.
Waterluvian 5y ago
Podcasts are amazing for learning. I've never in my life experienced a form of learning that was so organic, easy, and fun for me. And I've suffered through a few University degrees. I can listen to a single episode on some subject, then days later basically retell the entire thing to my dad. And by the time I've finished retelling what I learned, it's burned in forever. I imagine what's happening is that you're assuming that because you experience existence a certain way, _everyone_ must experience it that way too.
- bredren 5y ago
  I am not sure how much I have learned from podcasts, however they have offered a great deal of onboarding information about various technologies I have later picked up. That’s been valuable to me because basic familiarity with something is a major step toward using it. Good hosts and guests have a casual style you don’t have to work to parse. I also remember some portions of podcasts that end up not only relevant, but containing valuable context only available in that episode. One example recently was the creator of Flask reflecting on what the community was now doing that he would not have done. I transcribed some of this into the thread and I’m sure it would not have been something he would have put in a blog post. It wasn’t bad, but it was earnest and offered an emotional touch only the person affected by the experience could offer.
RNCTX 5y ago
Video is horrible for learning, because the combination of two sensory cues into a single passive medium puts said cues into a constant state of distraction with each other. The visual tends to distract the viewer from the aural, and the presence of the visual invites the producer of the video to put less effort into aural exposition. Audio-only is not as bad as video, in my experience. Probably still less-than in comparison to reading, but certainly an acceptable compromise particularly for people who struggle to read due to some disability.
- derekjdanserl 5y ago
  For those unaware, parent comment is a pretty good layman’s version of Marshall McLuhan’s position. See: the concept of hot and cool media https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Understanding_Media https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Understanding_Media
  - RNCTX 5y ago
    You got me! I've read McLuhan and while I think he can be a bit overdramatic in his proclamations, his way of looking at media as whole user experience rather than just content in isolation makes a lot of sense. It's relevant in this discussion because the content and the user's environment both determine whether a thing is "good" or "bad" (or as McLuhan would say... cold or hot). I personally don't listen to podcasts as a passive activity, I try to concentrate as if I were reading them to follow along with the concepts, but that's a function of what I'm listening to, I tend to favor theoretical discussions of concepts rather than people making jokes about the news or analyzing sports highlights or something that is more divided into discrete sections. I can listen while driving a car, because driving a car is purely reactive (the GPS is telling me when to turn, and otherwise I simply react to signs, traffic lights, and other vehicles without thinking much). But listening while coding doesn't work, I'll have to constantly rewind to a section of stuff that I've tuned out while reading docs or thinking about something else. On the other hand, if someone prefers listening to analysis of the previous day's NBA games and because they live in Houston they don't care about the Bulls vs the Knicks, who cares if they tune that part out and miss most of it? Listen while you're watching TV or cooking dinner if that's what floats your boat.
redisman 5y ago
There are some that are decent but they aren’t nearly as entertaining as the popular podcasts. People especially love interview shows which are very surface level but fun to listen to
me_me_me 5y ago
That like saying I only read badly written, boring books, so you cannot learn from books at all. Already mentioned Dan Carlin's Hardcore History is amazing source of viewpoints and perspectives that completely upended my understanding of history. > Couldn't imagine doing two things at once and calling one of them 'work' and the other 'learning'. I doubt anyone here programs and listens to anything but essentially noise, be it music or podcast. You cannot focus on two serious things at once. But that's not what we are talking about here. We are talking about doing a menial task like preping veg for cooking or cleaning doesn't require much attention. You can almost do those at autopilot and thats why people find it boring - because their minds wonder and seek stimulation. Since you dont need much attention for those tasks you can absolutely listen to audiobook or interesting podcast and learn something.

jjeaff 5y ago

Just depends on what kind of work I suppose. You could probably learn a lot from podcasts while, for example, driving a truck, or working as a security guard. I can't listen to podcasts while programming, but I can certainly learn a lot from listening to podcasts while cleaning the car, or working in the garage, or mowing the lawn.

xattt 5y ago
I am not sure about the science of this, but personally it has to be work that doesn’t involve speech/language processing. It would be interesting to set up an experiment to see which activities involve speech processing that you wouldn’t necessarily associate with that role of the brain.

anon23anon 5y ago

kind of feel like wikipedia is shitty for actual learning too except maybe for history

cortesoft 5y ago

I think different people learn in different ways. Some people struggle learning from reading, and podcasts might work for them.

euler2100 5y ago

Couldn't have said it better, learning from only listening can be really hard under several conditions when something happening in front of you can snatch your attention away and make you miss a big chunk of info.

passerby1 5y ago
Listening to podcasts for learning is not any worse than using wikipedia, considering wikipedia articles quality (not a popular reading, but a learning-grade one). Both are equally far from what's needed for learning.
barry-cotter 5y ago
That's what the back/rewind button is for, though for many purposes you'd be better off listening to lecture series than podcasts for learning. I know I learned a lot about development economics from listening to Duflo and Bannerjee's lectures.

Pxtl 5y ago

I've tried listening to Pluralsight courses as background noise and it does not work at all. Learning is an active activity, at least when it comes to skills. The only thing I think I could "learn" through that kind of passive listening would be narrative stuff like history, or interesting global trivia. Maybe philosophy or policy at a stretch.

watwut 5y ago
The thing has to be designed for background listeners to work as such. Lectures are designed for active listener and packed with dense information. Good background podcasts are more conversational, repeat the same information twice, go slow and talk for long about one thing. So they work as background listening, but if you tried to actively listen you would feel like they are too long.

yoyohello13 5y ago

I think podcasts are good for discovering new things about a topic. I often mark things down as “look into this more” to actually learn later.

Gwarzo 5y ago

This is purely an elitist viewpoint. Learning: the acquisition of knowledge or skills through experience, study, or by being taught. Podcasts are great for learning. They're not great for learning skills, but they're great for acquiring knowledge.

jdgoesmarching 5y ago
Yeah, it’s pretty dumb to assume that your experience of learning amounts to universal axioms about education. I have learned a ton from podcasts over the last decade. In fact, apps like Airr and Snipd have come on the scene just for people who like to capture notes from podcasts. I prefer Snipd, they use a bit of ML to predict useful start and end points around where you toggle the capture. They also generate transcripts for the podcast and the snip itself. It’s not perfect, but it makes editing your highlights a lot easier.

Waterluvian 5y ago

Podcasts are amazing for learning. I've never in my life experienced a form of learning that was so organic, easy, and fun for me. And I've suffered through a few University degrees. I can listen to a single episode on some subject, then days later basically retell the entire thing to my dad. And by the time I've finished retelling what I learned, it's burned in forever. I imagine what's happening is that you're assuming that because you experience existence a certain way, _everyone_ must experience it that way too.

bredren 5y ago
I am not sure how much I have learned from podcasts, however they have offered a great deal of onboarding information about various technologies I have later picked up. That’s been valuable to me because basic familiarity with something is a major step toward using it. Good hosts and guests have a casual style you don’t have to work to parse. I also remember some portions of podcasts that end up not only relevant, but containing valuable context only available in that episode. One example recently was the creator of Flask reflecting on what the community was now doing that he would not have done. I transcribed some of this into the thread and I’m sure it would not have been something he would have put in a blog post. It wasn’t bad, but it was earnest and offered an emotional touch only the person affected by the experience could offer.

RNCTX 5y ago

Video is horrible for learning, because the combination of two sensory cues into a single passive medium puts said cues into a constant state of distraction with each other. The visual tends to distract the viewer from the aural, and the presence of the visual invites the producer of the video to put less effort into aural exposition. Audio-only is not as bad as video, in my experience. Probably still less-than in comparison to reading, but certainly an acceptable compromise particularly for people who struggle to read due to some disability.

derekjdanserl 5y ago
For those unaware, parent comment is a pretty good layman’s version of Marshall McLuhan’s position. See: the concept of hot and cool media https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Understanding_Media https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Understanding_Media
- RNCTX 5y ago
  You got me! I've read McLuhan and while I think he can be a bit overdramatic in his proclamations, his way of looking at media as whole user experience rather than just content in isolation makes a lot of sense. It's relevant in this discussion because the content and the user's environment both determine whether a thing is "good" or "bad" (or as McLuhan would say... cold or hot). I personally don't listen to podcasts as a passive activity, I try to concentrate as if I were reading them to follow along with the concepts, but that's a function of what I'm listening to, I tend to favor theoretical discussions of concepts rather than people making jokes about the news or analyzing sports highlights or something that is more divided into discrete sections. I can listen while driving a car, because driving a car is purely reactive (the GPS is telling me when to turn, and otherwise I simply react to signs, traffic lights, and other vehicles without thinking much). But listening while coding doesn't work, I'll have to constantly rewind to a section of stuff that I've tuned out while reading docs or thinking about something else. On the other hand, if someone prefers listening to analysis of the previous day's NBA games and because they live in Houston they don't care about the Bulls vs the Knicks, who cares if they tune that part out and miss most of it? Listen while you're watching TV or cooking dinner if that's what floats your boat.

redisman 5y ago

There are some that are decent but they aren’t nearly as entertaining as the popular podcasts. People especially love interview shows which are very surface level but fun to listen to

me_me_me 5y ago

That like saying I only read badly written, boring books, so you cannot learn from books at all. Already mentioned Dan Carlin's Hardcore History is amazing source of viewpoints and perspectives that completely upended my understanding of history. > Couldn't imagine doing two things at once and calling one of them 'work' and the other 'learning'. I doubt anyone here programs and listens to anything but essentially noise, be it music or podcast. You cannot focus on two serious things at once. But that's not what we are talking about here. We are talking about doing a menial task like preping veg for cooking or cleaning doesn't require much attention. You can almost do those at autopilot and thats why people find it boring - because their minds wonder and seek stimulation. Since you dont need much attention for those tasks you can absolutely listen to audiobook or interesting podcast and learn something.