The podcast: a truly 21st century phenomenon. The popularity of podcasts has skyrocketed in recent years with Generation Z heralding a new form of content. Most of us have the voices of podcasters in our ears at some point, but what role do they play in our everyday lives?

The attraction is obvious: content you can consume hands-free, while walking, cooking, or going to sleep, with the choice of thousands of companions for these tasks. And they’re freely available. On a student budget, buying subscriptions for streaming platforms can seem inaccessible (I’m still getting over the pain of being booted off the family Netflix), and so having comedy, news, dramas, debates, history lessons, gossip, interviews, all at the push of a button is a blessing.

They can also be a low-pressure way of engaging with your degree – not a day goes by where I don’t hear the dulcet tones of Rory and Alastair coming from the kitchen, the universal companions of HSPS students. Plus, as an MML student, podcasts are invaluable; you’re able to listen to native speakers talking on any number of topics. There’s nothing quite like an episode of L’Heure du Monde to get the French flowing before a Monday afternoon oral supervision. Engaging with your subject in this way can be refreshing, especially as so much of our everyday is taken up by some form of reading.

“Listening purely to a person’s voice gives the content a sense of intimacy”

I also think part of the attraction is that listening to a podcast feels real. Listening purely to a person’s voice gives the content a sense of intimacy that is not felt elsewhere. We form parasocial relationships with the people in our ears every day and maintain the somewhat delusional idea that we really get to know them. This is especially evident in the content of younger creators: people like Emma Chamberlain have built fanbases on the perception of relatability, content that feels informal. An episode of anything goes feels more like a FaceTime call than a polished piece of entertainment.

The podcast has also become a significant arena for political expression. Like any other online content, it can become an echo chamber reaching young audiences to influence, or reinforce, their views. Perhaps most notably, right-wing figures like Andrew Tate have exploited the popularity of this medium to propagate their ideas. The danger of this is clear, and is the same as for social media. When listening habits become insular and harmful, creators can exploit this to push misleading and hateful narratives which only worsen political and ideological divisions. The podcast feels like a more accessible do-it-yourself format, facilitating extreme views more than the regulated world of television. Therefore, we may need a higher degree of awareness when consuming such content, but this need not altogether negate the many benefits of the podcast format. As with any media we consume, we just need to be wary of how it is constructed.

“When listening habits become insular and harmful, creators can exploit this”

There is, however, still very much a place for other forms of media in our lives. Long-standing news outlets, books, live comedy and drama remain important, albeit less convenient when it can’t be accessed through our headphones. We must hope that the online space does not dominate the cultural field for our generation; literature, cinema and theatre continue to be a rich source of thought and entertainment for us all. Podcasts and online entertainment absolutely have their places in our lives, but they are not our only source of cultural and intellectual stimulation.

There is one thing that I must confess I do not understand: the recent appetite for video podcasts. Spotify insists that I would very much enjoy watching half an hour of people sat on a sofa, but as I see it, a large part of the podcast’s appeal is its portability. Staring at your phone screen while the hosts talk seems to defeat the idea. It is clearly a goldmine for the creators’ promotional Instagram reels, but I am yet to be convinced that it is a great benefit for the listener…

It seems that, at least for the time being, podcasts are a staple of our generation’s lifestyle. The people in our ears make us laugh, make us think, provoke conversations. For many, they populate our everyday, helping us to while away the hours, and with the release of a new series of Bill Nighy’s ill-advised this term, the walk to Sidge has never been so entertaining.