Podcasts are Making Us More Isolated Than Ever

Yes, podcasts are great. Yes, The Rest is History, magnificently fronted by Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook, richly deserves to be named Apple’s Show of The Year 2025. Yes, these wonderful podcasters elevate many a repetitive dog walk or batch cookery session. And yet, a suspicion nags that podcasts (even our own splendid Sceptic) are also hastening the demise of fraternal conviviality and an increase in societal atomisation. What need of fellowship and IRL fun when we can listen to Joe Marler interviewing the world’s strongest man?

As society hurtles towards post-literacy, it is natural that we return to verbal and aural ways of learning and entertainment. This ought to be a good thing: a shared communal experience of storytelling. Yet in place of campfire tales we have the podcast, a wholly solitary affair. Is there anything sadder than seeing a jogger with air pods in, impervious to all those he thuds past, listening to Dr Rangan Chatterjee earnestly espouse the importance of true human connections? Or the home worker whose only acquaintance with wider society is through the News Agents? Or the under-socialised teenager on the bus listening in glum silence to Alan Partridge?

And yet we kid ourselves that we are connected to the podcaster, agreeing with them, recommending them to friends, looking forward to hearing them next week. Known as a parasocial relationship, strange feelings of familiarity arise. When I met Tom Holland at a literary festival, I felt I was meeting an old friend. Like a moron, I told him warmly how much I too loved history. He smiled in terrified politeness, when I remembered, of course, I was a complete stranger to him.

It was then I realised the limited nature of the podcast format. While imparting glorious stories and wisdom to our ears, the sense of listening community and the podcasters connection with its legion of fans is fundamentally dislocated and hierarchical – more sermon than social. The pre-modern ‘podcasts’ of Deans Colet and Donne from St Paul’s electrified listeners and irritated and mollified leaders, in the same way Joe Rogan and Theo Von influence public discourse today (who’d have thunk that connection could ever have been made!) But those podcasts of old were so powerful because of the live audience, the congregation that heckled, the royalty and dignitaries forced to listen, in person, to the scolding or reassurance, fury or praise. Today alas, we are mere disembodied listeners physically isolated from the podcasters and our fellow audience members.

In theory there is a global community of podcast fans who are all invited to pay extra and join a podcast ‘club’ where various services are offered, from early bird tickets to live events or a monthly zoom call with the hosts. The live events, where we at least get to see in person those voices who have been with us naked in the bath, are small comfort. They last an hour or so and afterwards we all troop out making our solitary way home listening alone to another solitary podcast.

What then can be done? Like the answer to most things – it’s to have more parties, more get togethers, more in person activities. Think of the buzzing coffee taverns of the 18th century where men smoked and bellowed ideas together along long communal tables. Think of the elegant salons of the 18th and 19th centuries where men and women assembled in all their finery to flirt and discuss the latest ideas. Less sermonising, more discussion, more IRL generative culture. Whichever entrepreneurial podcaster combines both the top down excellent output with a thriving horizontal fan base will do much to heal the divisions of the past couple of decades. Instead of dividing people along colour and creed, people will join together in shared interests and ideas, with curiosity and inquiry. Just think of The Rest is History Salon, where instead of leaving after the Q&A, the congregation stay, and drink and eat and talk together. Whole gangs of history teachers would connect and organise better history lessons…

Or just think of an in person Sceptic Salon where Laurie would interview the guests, Q&As would be taken and afterwards, listeners stay to eat and drink and mingle and talk and discuss and argue and commune and flirt and share ideas. Contacts – IRL contacts not just socials – could be made and shared – what ideas, initiatives and companies would be formed? If podcasts could morph somehow into salons, we might be able to replicate Tocqueville’s observation about the vigour of America:

In the United States, as soon as several inhabitants have taken an opinion or an idea they wish to promote in society, they seek each other out and unite together once they have made contact. From that moment, they are no longer isolated but have become a power seen from afar whose activities serve as an example and whose words are heeded.

Joanna Gray is a writer and confidence coach.