Podcasts are on the rise since past couple of years. Today there’re thousands of podcasts and millions of podcast episodes to listen to ranging from various niches and genres like food, sports, comedy, lifestyle based, mysteries and thriller to self-help, educational, political, news, motivating, marketing, and much more. According to an article post shared on podcastinsights.com, there are currently over 1,000,000 different podcasts and over 30 million episodes as of April 2020.
What makes podcasts special I believe is that not only they help add value and knowledge to an individual but can also provide that entertaining aspect when required as well. At one point I got extremely bored of listening to the same songs and playlists over and over again, when I finally came across podcasts and not going to lie, I’ve been hooked to them since then and haven’t turned back once and here’s why:
Benefits of Podcasts
1. Easily available
First and foremost whether you’re an android user or an Apple user, podcasts are easily available on various streaming platforms, like Spotify, ITunes, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Google Play Music, Stitcher and in fact many others. If you have your device, you’ve the right platform/application installed in; you’re all set to surf and listen to your favorite podcast.
2. Mobile friendly & Portable
Another advantage of podcasts is that they’re not restricted to just huge screens or devices like Desktop or Laptop and you can listen to them simply using your mobile devices without you requiring to be sitting down at one place. Unlike watching movies or TV series which requires your eyes to be glued and demands your visual attention, podcasts on the other hand only demands your ears.
The best part about podcasts that I personally love is that you can listen to them anywhere and at any time that you like. Whether you’re commuting back and forth from school or work, cooking, cleaning your closet, vacuuming, while you’re on a walk with your dog or while you’re working out; literally anytime that you’d want to listen to, podcasts are there for you, hooking you up with some valuable content. According to the same article mentioned earlier, “49% of podcast listening is done at home, and 22% listen while driving (in a vehicle)”.
3. Adds value and knowledge to one’s life
This is one of the most crucial point I want to make here is that my lifestyle and my way of thinking has drastically changed and improved for good since the time I’ve started listening to podcasts. There’s literally so much information, knowledge, tips and tricks, hacks, well rounded advices, experiences and stories you get to listen to from so many successful young and experienced individuals and that too for free of cost; that it blows my mind to even think about it.
4. Enhances thinking power and imagination
It has been proven that since podcasts require you to engage into active listening, it triggers certain parts of your brain forcing it to imagine and paint pictures about whatever you’re listening to in turn enhancing ones thinking power and imagination. It has also been proven that people who listen to podcasts possess high memory retaining power.
5. Easily Downloadable
There have been moments in my life when I was really looking forward to listening to this particular podcast while on my daily commute to work, but lack of internet connectivity made it impossible for me and I couldn’t even get to listen to even half of it. At the time I realized podcasts even had this feature where you can download them as well. And so since then I always made it a point to download podcasts well in advanced or at least a night before my next morning commute so I could peacefully listen to them without any pauses, hindrances or interruptions caused because of poor internet connectivity.
Top 5 Popular and valuable podcasts available on Apple Podcast
1. Ted Talks Daily (2019-2020)
This podcast includes your daily dose of intriguing and mind boggling information. This is a much shorter time duration podcast typically ranging from 5-15 minutes, which can be perfect to listen in the morning while you’re getting ready or having your breakfast simply to start your day with.
Rating on Apple Podcast: 4.0/5.0
Genre: Education
2. India Daily News Podcast (2020)
If you’re someone who cannot live without consuming news daily, but also due to time constraints cannot sit in front of TV for the same or have no time to read a newspaper, this podcast is perfect for you.
Rating on Apple Podcast: 4.5/5.0
Genre: Daily News
3. On Purpose with Jay Shetty(2019-2020)
This is one of my personal favorite podcast to listen to since I’m very much passionate and fascinated about health and overall well-being. Jay Shetty is a British vlogger, author, motivational speaker and a former monk who through his podcast, interviews very known and successful people of the world to bring some value to his audience and their lives.
Rating on Apple Podcast: 4.9/5.0
Genre: Health & Fitness
4. The Skinny Confidential Him and Her(2016-2020)
This is another one of my favorite Lifestyle, health & fitness based podcast– which I try to not miss a single episode of. I’m not going to talk much about it and let the description do the talking.
Rating on Apple Podcast: 4.7/5.0
Genre: Health & Fitness
5. Best Friends with Nicole Byer and Sasheer Zamata(2015-2020)
Always saving the best for the last, this podcast is the best for you if you want to engage and entertain yourself in some fun conversation and belly ache laugh.
Rating on Apple Podcast: 5.0/5.0
Genre: Comedy
While there are so many podcasts that you can listen to these are just a few insightful ones based on general and specific niches. I’m sure through this article I must have definitely sold you on giving podcast a try if you were haven’t already familiar with them. So go try your hands on podcasts now and comment down your favorite podcasts to listen to.
