polarix comments on Podcasts? - Less Wrong

10 Post author: Capla 25 October 2014 11:42PM

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Comment author: [deleted] 26 October 2014 12:44:47PM 1 point [-]

Why do you listen to all but a few of the podcasts at x1.5 or x2 speed? I know there's another person on here who does the same with audio books (can't remember who). Does it improve retention/enjoyment or does it simply allow you to get through more items quickly?

Comment author: polarix 26 October 2014 04:00:35PM *  2 points [-]

I find broadcast speech in general, and especially recorded narration such as audiobooks, to be slow enough as to provoke distraction.

On top of the additional focal intensity, there's double the time bandwidth. Of course, it's sensitive to my mental state -- sometimes when I'm de-energized I need to slow it down to 1.5x, but I'd ideally hover around 2.5x (though software rarely goes above 2x yet).

To get started, listen to something at 1.25x, and crank it up further as you get accustomed to the density.