Entertainment has become as necessary for human development as shelter, food or water. Though humanity can live without being entertained, a study done by Timothy Wilson, a social psychologist of the University of Virginia proved that many find the process unbearable. Conducted with undergraduate students, the volunteers sequestered in empty rooms without belongings like their cellular phones and were given the option to either think to themselves, or be electrically shocked. The results showed that these volunteers would rather be electrically shocked than be left alone with their thoughts.
Unfortunately, these results were not shocking, unlike the bolt of electricity that hit those bored volunteers. Rather than reflecting on our thoughts we may watch Instagram reels, tik toks or YouTube videos.
When we were younger, it wasn’t uncommon to hear any sort of oral storytelling. Whether it was a parent reading from a cherished story collection or a song and story cd playing in the car on the way to a doctor’s appointment, these audio forms of stories would often provide us peace from boredom and solace from the aggressive seeming outside world. However, audio stories and experiences shouldn’t have to end in our adolescence.
What if there was a form of entertainment that could allow you to be productive while also easing the boredom we all see so uncomfortable with? What if there was a way to keep us engaged with the activity we are doing no matter how boring it may be, without us getting distracted and quitting. This almost magical sounding form of entertainment already exists just under our radar. That entertainment is the modern podcast and audio drama. With tools such as audible, Spotify or wherever you so choose to stream music, you can escape our overwhelming world to a different land while doing the activities and chores we can never seem to escape as we get older.
As we get older and gain more responsibilities, we also gain more mind-numbing tasks that can cause us to feel burnt out and often bored such as laundry, dishes or cooking. A way to make these dull experiences more stimulating and enjoyable is to listen to a fictional podcast or audio drama. Instead of getting distracted due to the mundanity of your task, you can have an enticing piece of audio playing in the background to keep you focused. This can also make the task feel like it’s going by faster because you are mainly focusing on something entertaining instead of something boring.
Podcasts have become increasingly popular in the modern day with productions such as Serial in the 2010’s Fans obsessed over the drama, and it fostered several people’s love of true crime. However, nonfiction can seem boring, depressing or even scary to listeners even if it is in audio format without images. This is where the wonderful world of fictional podcasts or audio dramas come in.
For fans of true crime, you can discover the podcast Limetown about the fictional town that disappeared without a trace. If you enjoy comedies, Wooden Overcoats tells the hilarious story of two siblings trying to save their families funeral business. For horror fanatics podcasts like Spines or Shipworm will leave you with a ghostly chill. Even musical theater fans will have something to enjoy with the audio musical 36 Questions starring Jonathan Groff and Jessie Shelton. The point is, there’s an audio drama for every aspect of fiction you may or may not even know you’re interested in.
For the simultaneously bored and busy population that seems to grow larger and larger every day, audio dramas are a revolutionary form of entertainment. While washing your dishes, folding endless piles of laundry or walking your over-energized dog, you can easily become immersed in the magical story telling of an audio drama without losing any of your valuable entertainment or productivity.
