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The Problem With Learning From Podcasts, According to Neuroscience

Imagine a group of people listening to a storyteller recite tales of heroes, villains, and daring exploits. This sounds like a scene from the deep human past. But according to a variety of experts, the present resembles distant history more than many of us realize.

When you choose to get your information mostly from podcasts and short videos, you’re participating in this revival of oral culture, they argue. What’s that doing to our society? To your brain? Neuroscientists and scholars warn it’s complicated.

The return of oral culture?

TikTok and podcasts might seem like a far cry from sitting around a campfire or crowded tavern being entertained by the local bard. But since the dawn of digital media, thinkers have pointed out similarities.

Way back in the 1980s Jesuit priest and literature professor Walter Ong argued that radio and television were reviving “oral culture.” Magazine editor Tina Brown echoed the prediction in 2013. More recently media theorist Andrey Mir, historian Adam Garfinkle, and culture writer Katherine Dee have all made similar claims.

Vox’s Eric Levitz has written a detailed explanation of these arguments. But the basic story goes like this. When people mostly rely on listening, information…