For the past year and a half, I have been consuming two to three audiobooks every month, primarily in the fields of personal development, politics and social science, health and wellness, and business and careers.
I find it difficult to understand people who constantly need to be entertained, maybe it’s just me and how I am, I just love learning. Even on platforms like YouTube, I avoid watching entertaining content, I consider it a waste of time. This is not to say I don’t value leisure and downtime, as they are important for reducing stress and living a better life.
Being Mindful of Time:
I am always trying to be mindful of how I use my time. Time is the only thing we have until we don’t have it anymore. It’s important to know what is actually important.
In this pursuit, one must understand the difference between useful and useless knowledge to determine what is truly important. For example, watching Love Island does not offer valuable knowledge. Such content provides little to no value and may even detract from intellectual growth. Some could argue that such shows promote shallow ideologies and undermines the pursuit of meaningful knowledge, essentially indoctrinating and violating the human soul.
Many young people watch it and may think it reflects appropriate human behavior, unconsciously learning and being programmed by it.
Anyways I just want to bring it back to the main topic before I get out of hand and start talking about the philosophy of these dead beat programs.
Conclusion:
I have learned that it’s a lot harder to retain knowledge acquired through audiobooks. I would say reading is superior, as it requires active engagement. However, I will not dismiss audiobooks; they are convenient and have been a great companion for my bus and train journeys, cooking sessions, late-night gym workouts, and even while doing chores. Though I don’t like the idea of multitasking, in this particular case, I think it’s okay. Learning something is better than learning nothing.
Someone once remarked that the best way to learn is to teach someone else, and if you cannot teach them, then you haven’t learned it. I find that I retain a lot more information when I read or watch lectures than when I consume audiobooks. It’s easy for the mind to drift away into another world when sensory inputs like sight and attention are not fully engaged.
