Podcasts

I should be the ideal customer for podcasts.  I love politics and ideas and arguments and discussions. I am retired and have quite a bit of time on my hands. I love folks like Chris Hayes and Ezra Klein. I have a laptop which I use a lot and an Iphone.

But it's fair to say that I rarely listen to podcasts. The primary reason? Most of them are too long. I am in my early 70s. I try to spend a decent chunk of time reading books every day, usually one fiction and one nonfiction. I read The New Yorker, The Nation (online), Dissent, Jacobin, n+1, The Paris Review. Also The Washington Post (digital). Sprinkle in a little TV time on cable and Netflix (not that much really), and it is just hard to justify an hour and a half listening to "Know Your Enemy", as much as I really like those guys.

Part of it is that I have my own idea of how a podcast should be. Most importantly, it should be listened to in one sitting. I am okay reading an article in The New Yorker or Dissent over a couple of days, but not a podcast.

I know I am not the target demographic. I am old and I don't commute or anything like that. I have accepted that fact a long time ago. On a rare occasion I will put on headphones and listen (so as not to totally bore my wife). But unless I am on a trans-Atlantic flight or something, I pretty much forego all those interesting people. How about forty-five minutes? Please?