Don’t have time to read? I bet you have time to listen.
Busy schedule? Never a moment to sit down? Just can’t get that book in your hands? I get it.
How many times has this really worked out:
“Ahh, I’m going to take the next two hours, all alone, no distractions, and really get into this book.”
That happens for me when:
- I’m on vacation.
- I’m recovering from kidney transplant surgery.
- When my children offer that to me. “Dad, you never get a chance to relax. We’re going to make dinner and clean up so you have two hours to yourself.”
- In my dreams.
#3 and #4 are the same.
Seeing that I’ve never had kidney transplant surgery (nor do I even know if that’s a thing), we’re down to vacation. Even #1 requires certain galaxies to align to get a good chunk of time to read: a swimming pool with a lifeguard, unlimited snacks, sun, and no fighting between brothers. This happens every single time that Jupiter’s moons line up with the earth.*
Let’s venture back to reality, shall we?
I have a dog. My dog loves me. My dog loves to walk in the woods. I have an iPhone. I have earbuds. You can download a podcast via WiFi and store it on your phone.
That last paragraph just nullified numbered points 1 through 4 above. I can do this every day! It’s a miracle! No more, “I don’t have time.” No longer waiting for moons to line up. No more dreaming of kids who look up over a screen to interact with real humans.
It’s audio.
Don’t have time to read? I bet you have time to listen.
It’s relatively new. Our good buddy Gutenberg invented the printing press around 1440, but podcasts were hot on his tail coming into fashion around the late 1980s, but really took off around 2004 with broadband and more capable audio devices.
Not only do we have zero excuses for not reading that book, we now can’t even deny ourselves education, entertainment, or pretty much anything that you might have thought was restricted to you sitting in your armchair with a cup of tea and a book made of paper.
It can all happen now in your car, in the woods with your dog, even while waiting in line at the post office for a stamp? Wait, waiting where for a what? OK, forget that one.
In the metro with your eyes closed. At the dentist’s office in the waiting room. It’s called a waiting room, we might as well change the name to the listening room.
Education, entertainment, it’s all just a Bluetooth connection away. It’s all there, lots of it is free. It comes right into your ears and if you’re an auditory person, you might get more out of it and/or enjoy it even more than reading. Crazy, I know.
I gotta go. I have to walk the dog. So no, I can’t read your book or post or article. But if it were on audio, I could.
* Which is on a regular basis! Every 69,432 years.
