I know all of you have huge amounts of time on your hands, right? Of course, that is not true. We are all terribly pressed for time. One way that many busy professionals have learned to increase their exposure to recent information in their fields of expertise is through listening to podcasts on an iPod or other mp3 or mp4 player.
Wikipedia defines podcast as “a type of digital media consisting of an episodic series of files (either audio or video) subscribed to and downloaded through web syndication.”
Those of you are under 30 are asking why I am defining the word podcast. Certainly, everyone knows what a podcast is. I am doing so because there are many of us in the 40+ age group who have never listened to or viewed a podcast, even if we know what it is. We are still getting up to speed!
I wanted to let you know that American Psychological Association (APA) mentioned the growing availability of psychology podcasts in the January edition of the Monitor on Psychology. There are shows that focus on the brain and behavior, others on the mind, others are interviews with psychologists and neuroscience researchers. It is an extensive list!
Obviously, there are lots of ways to find podcasts that might interest you. A quick Google search for ‘Podcast Directories’ turned up 63,600,000 results. You are bound to find some interesting ones in these listings.
I have not yet downloaded podcasts. I do, however, have benefit of listening to some of those Seth has downloaded. One of my favorites is Science Friday, an NPR radio program that also uses the podcast format. They frequently have psychology and mental health-related shows.
I hope you will try out some of these resources to determine if they are a good way for you to access information in your field of expertise. If you are already hooked on podcasts, please share the names of some of those you like, whether related to behavioral health or to other areas.
Seth Krieger says:
I listen to podcasts most any time my hands are busy but my mind is not. It is a great way to milk more value out of times when you are exercising, cleaning house, doing yard work, or commuting. I listen to lots of technology stuff, as well as Science Friday (http://www.sciencefriday.com/feeds/about), various NPR shows, and feeds related to an enduring passion, bicycle touring. NPR is fertile ground for great podcasts (http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcast_directory.php). You can subscribe to podcasts to download them automatically to your smartphone or music player. I use a podcast app called BeyondPod which I like very much. Apple-fans can subscribe using iTunes.