Erik Jones

Erik Jones is founder of Hurt Your Brain. Follow him on Twitter here.

Hi, Erik! Kindly introduce yourself.
I write a twice-a-month (usually) podcast newsletter called Hurt Your Brain that largely focuses on episode recommendations that will help you understand the world a little better. Every newsletter also includes videos and links that will make you think, as well as a little original drawing. The goal is to find the best online content you can learn from! I also write for the Bello Collective and am working with Lyceum, an exciting upcoming app focused on educational audio. In general I just love talking and writing about podcasts. 

How did you get involved in podcasting?
I drive a lot for my job and have over the years increasingly filled my windshield time with podcasts, to the point where I now look forward to super long drives. I started writing about podcasts around 4-5 years ago and have slowly connected with more and more of this most amazing of communities. 

Your newsletter, Hurt Your Brain, is very niche. How did you come up with the idea? What made you realize there was a need for it?
Podcasts are obviously wonderful in so many ways, but I think they have so much potential as a learning tool. I view podcast apps as little libraries or mini-universities in your pocket. The challenge is finding the smartest stuff to listen to because it’s not always things you would see on any podcast chart. My hope is to surface the best episodes of well-known podcasts that will make you think as well as introduce people to the whole universe of lesser known podcasts that are chock-full of fascinating things.

What are three shows I should know about but probably don't?
This might be tough because you have such an impressive range of shows you listen to! But to try anyway: 1) You Are Not So Smart is a great show about psychology and how we are experts at deluding ourselves, 2) Distillations is a great narrative science show that doesn’t get enough attention, and 3) Cosmic Vertigo is my favorite place to get my mind blown about space and the universe.

Is it possible for a podcast to hurt your brain TOO MUCH?
NEVER! I think it’s certainly very possible for a show to be too boring or have too much of a data dump, but the specific feeling of hurting your brain is something I think we can handle more than we realize. I think our brains hurting also means it's getting exercise!

What’s your favorite show that doesn’t hurt your brain at all?
This is very much in the “two dudes talking” genre (a very fine one at that), but I do love Hello Internet when I have the time. It has two educational YouTubers as the hosts, including CGP Grey, but it is just a relaxing, fun listen for me every so often.

How do you discover new shows?
By subscribing to every newsletter known to man! Seriously, my inbox is a mess but subscribing to lots of newsletters and every single podcast recommendation type newsletter is something I can’t help. Podcast newsletters are such a great discovery tool and I actually keep a running list here. My newest best source is this new thing called The Syllabus that recommends many types of media, but they have fantastic taste in educational podcasts. The Bello Collective Slack channel is also a regular place for me to learn about new shows.

Can fiction shows hurt your brain?
Absolutely. I tend to listen to mostly non-fiction, but I think fiction podcasts are just like novels, where you can sometimes learn more about how humans and the world work by reading an insightful author (or listening to a podcast creator) than you can with some tome of non-fiction.

When you listen to podcasts, which app do you use, and to which speed do you listen?
I am always evangelizing Castro, which I think has the best method of dealing with large amounts of subscriptions. If you like to listen buffet style, where you have lots of shows that you want to follow but only like to download an episode every so often depending on the topic, than check it out!

For 95% of shows I listen at regular ol’ 1x speed. The only exceptions are long interview shows where their natural speech isn’t that fast. For me, anything above 1.4x just completely doesn’t work. And anyone who listens above 2x speed is just an absolutely crazy person who secretly hates nice things. 

Who do you wish had a podcast?
This is cheating, but Carl Sagan. He died over twenty years ago so I guess I need a time machine, but I am confident that he would be the podcaster we all need right now in this crazy world. His Cosmos series was incredibly influential on me and thinking about some kind of podcast version of that just makes me sad that it’s not possible. 

Say you were going to start a podcast about anything you want—don’t worry about whether or not anyone would like it or any of the logistics. What would it be?
I have this idea I can’t get out of my head. It would be called Passion Pitch, and it would be a show where people who are super passionate about something (book, author, genre, hobby, movie, anything really) come on and basically try to sell the audience on why they should also be into that thing and some recommendations on where to start. I love when someone is just so into something I feel the need to drop everything and check it out. 

Thanks, Erik!