Too Many Podcasts

Although initially intending to make this short observation at the tail end of my previous post, Critic Markup, I ended up spending much more time discussing the new and interesting spec than I had originally planned. The second topic of Ben’s post, where he pointed to an interview on episode twelve of The Distraction podcast, sent me down an all-too-familiar rabbit hole, at the end of which I had subscribed to two new podcasts: The Distraction and Hundred Down. The greatest problem we face today, at least on the internet, is an embarrassment of riches: we have too much good content vying for our attention. Not only in podcasts — I am currently subscribed to nineteen podcasts, plus an additional seven parked subscriptions — but in every other form of content on the internet: with the advent of The Magazine and other similar publications, an increasing number of excellent writers making their way on to the internet, and new avenues opening every single day, it becomes increasingly difficult to decide what to pay attention to. That skill, I feel, is what will set the great writers apart from the rest in the coming months and years.