This is your brain on podcasts

The Brilliance Experiment: Week 9

I love podcasts.

Hell, I produce one that’s top 10% globally ranked.

Podcasts have been my lifeline for the last few years — my background noise, my walking companion, the perfect foil the mind-numbing hamster wheel of dishes and laundry.

By all measures, I assumed that this steady stream of chatter was helping me more than it was hurting me… until this week.

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If you’re just tuning in, I’m on week 9 of The Brilliance Experiment — 52 weeks of tiny, life-changing experiments to reignite the spark you lost when life got hard. If you’re looking to recover your joie de vivre, your vitality, and your life force, I’m so glad you’re here!

Over the last week, my experiment was to untether myself from the persistent chit-chat of podcasts and audiobooks just to see how I would feel.

I was actually pretty nervous about this one! Most of my experiments have focused on adding small pleasures each week, which has been completely delightful and eye-opening.

But the idea of removing stimulation always intrigues me as someone chronically overstimulated by the modern world, constantly wondering how it affects my overall happiness and fulfillment.

Plus, I felt inspired by the reading deprivation exercise from The Artist’s Way, and I wanted to see what would happen if I cut out the chatter to let myself be with my own thoughts for a while.

And ohhhh, did I have some thoughts.

The alarming absence of original thoughts!

To probably no one’s surprise, without the constant input of other people’s opinions, perspectives, and ongoing conversations, I felt more clear, more creative, and more in touch with my own ideas.

Julia Cameron describes in her reading deprivation exercise that consuming other people’s words are “tiny tranquilizers,” junk food that tastes delicious but makes us feel fried when we consume too much of it.

Yep, that hits.

I keep thinking about this article from The Cut in 2017 (before the podcast boom!!!), where the author Sirena Bergman learns that our brains are actively working when we’re consuming podcasts. In the article, she writes:

Jack Gallant, a computational and cognitive neuroscientist from UC Berkeley, explains a study he was involved in, where subjects were put in an MRI and played episodes of The Moth Radio Hour, while scientists observed the effects on the brain. They found that when listening to audio content, the brain is working much harder than scientists had previously assumed.

On one hand, duh, but on the other hand, why are we all acting like the steady diet of podcasts and audiobooks isn’t contributing to our collective overstimulation, stress and burnout? Because if my brain is always working… when does it get to rest???

Nene gets it (via Pinterest)

Did you know that the day stretches out in front of you when you’re not filling all the silence?

On the first night of my podcast deprivation, I climbed into bed and realized the day had felt long. Not in a bad way, but in a way I just wasn’t used to. Is that what presence feels like when you’re not numbing out with podcast chatter?

I had spent the day listening to music while I cleaned my apartment, and even that small shift made everything feel more present and happier.

Without the scaffolding of a podcast, I was more in tune with what I actually wanted to do next, rather than feeling locked into the rhythm of someone else’s conversation that I couldn’t just turn off.

I really thought podcasts were helping me stay productive and on track, but this week made me wonder if they are actually slowing me down in ways I hadn’t noticed. They pull me into conversations I can’t easily step away from, especially when it’s time to focus on what’s happening right in front of me, or what I need to do next.

The return of my inner explorer

I’ve been making seasonal playlists for the last 10 years, just for shits and giggles. I love having a playlist of songs that capture the feeling of each chapter of my life. And yet, as it begins to turn Spring and Summer of 2025, I realize I haven’t made one since Summer 2024.

The only reason I can make those playlists is because I was listening to so much music, that I was be bound to hear some great songs that I wanted to hear on repeat. But, lately all I’m listening to is podcasts and instrumental hip hop and jazz while I’m working?? Where’s the spice???

When I was a teenager, I would check out stacks of CDs from the library and burn them on my parents PC (sorry not sorry, mom and dad!). I used to make mix-CDs and pass them out to my friends at school. I miss that version of me who was always seeking out new music, instead of passively accepting whatever my Spotify Daylist sends me.

This week reconnected me with that version of myself and I love her. The entire Brilliance Experiment is all about this — going back in and retiling my insides with the parts of myself that I loved and lost.

In the absence of my podcasts and audiobooks this week, I started paying attention again, discovering new music and rediscovering songs I hadn’t listened to in years, and wow does it feel good to be back.

Now that I’m thinking about it, I might even dust off my record player later today.

I did. It was f*cking awesome. 10/10 recommend.

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