This is Technology Bytes, episode 142, for November 23rd, 2025.
Technology Bytes is a microcast where I share brief bites on interesting technology.
Enjoy, and here we go.
For the second week in a row, I’m going to talk about something I really don’t know anything about.
Oh, well, that’s not really entirely true because there’s not a lot to know.
It’s just a technology that exists that many people use, that many people like, and sometimes it is baffling to me as kind of a tech nerd, you know, someone who really enjoys technology, who likes to use technology, finds technology in places where he does not exist, where it’s just something that he does not use.
And I find that to be fascinating, and I’m going to talk about that today.
And what am I talking about?
Well, this week I’m talking about audiobooks.
So when I was younger, and maybe it has to do with, you know, my parents, maybe a little less freedom, maybe no TV, other forms of entertainment, but I used to read quite a few books.
And I have a brother who’s an avid reader, and I think he remains that even today.
And so I really enjoyed reading.
And, you know, we went to the library not too long ago and signed up for library cards, my wife and I, and put an app on our, I think it’s Libby, that’s on our iPad so we can get a book and read it.
And I don’t know if, it’s not that I don’t have time.
I was just going to say, I don’t know if I just don’t have time.
It really is the fact that I spend a lot of time reading other things.
I spend a lot of time reading articles.
I spend time reading tech news.
I spend time looking at Bible news and things like that.
And yet I still enjoy reading a book.
I just, I don’t know, I’m struggling with taking the time and making the time to actually read, and it drives me crazy.
And so some would say, well, you know there are audiobooks and then you can just listen.
And I’ve thought about that, and I’ll share some of those thoughts in the next few minutes.
So one thing I do listen to is podcasts, and I listen to a variety, well, not really a variety.
I listen to Apple tech podcasts, but I listen to Bible podcasts as well.
Chuck Swindoll is one of my favorite preacher teachers, and I listen to him on the regular.
And I also listen to podcasts from The Bible Project.
So these are talking heads, as it were.
They are talking often, well, in the Christian podcast world, they’re talking about the Bible most often and how that applies to our lives.
So there is some form of book in those podcasts, and it’s centered around the Bible and the scriptures and what they say.
And then in the tech podcasts, I listen to really Apple-focused podcasts.
I listen to one podcast that is just a general tech of the week podcast.
And, you know, so that’s not focused on Apple, but it covers some of the Apple tech as well.
And so I do spend time listening, and the times that I do that are twofold.
I listen when I am doing my walks in the morning, and that’s anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour.
And I also listen while I’m driving to and from work.
And that drive is about 30 to 35 minutes in the morning and somewhere near 40 to 50 minutes in the evening.
And so those are the times that I listen to podcasts.
I listen to the spoken word.
But I have never gotten into listening to audiobooks.
And so what is the reason for that?
Well, some is paying for them, and I know that they’re not all that expensive.
But the second reason is I feel like I’m not paying attention.
So this year, for the first time, as I’m reading through the Bible, I am actually listening to the Bible.
So while I say I don’t listen to audiobooks, I guess that’s not entirely true.
But this is the first time I’ve done my Bible reading, as it were, by listening to someone read to me.
And this is not a new concept.
When I was growing up, one of the reasons that I enjoyed reading is because my mother would read to us every morning while we were eating breakfast before school.
And she would pick a book, not necessarily a religious book or something like that, but just a book that she thought we would enjoy.
And while we were eating, she would read to us.
So in that sense, I have listened to audiobooks, and I have enjoyed those times when my mother was reading to me.
The other thing that I enjoyed to do is actually reading to my children when they were younger and also reading to my grandchildren in this very day.
So I understand the pull of audiobooks.
Now, sometimes that’s because we don’t know how to read, like in the case of my grandson, who is only four, and he likes to hear the story.
So reading to him is the form of getting that information across.
But also there’s something about sitting in the presence of a reader as they read a book to you that draws me in.
And it really has to do with paying attention.
So I guess if I sat in a quiet room focused on what was being read, maybe audiobooks would get me through more books in a given year.
Maybe I need to just be reading.
I don’t know.
But audiobooks still don’t really have that pull.
It’s kind of funny because I could listen to them while I walk, just like I do the podcasts, although my podcasts fill those driving and walking moments to the full every week, so I don’t really have additional capacity for that.
I could read instead of watching TV, instead of watching sports, and that feels like something I might not do.
But in not reading, maybe I’m not learning.
I don’t know.
This is a struggle for me and maybe a struggle for you.
I probably need to read, and audiobooks might be a way to get me there more frequently, or maybe listening to a form of audiobook where they give you a summary and then you’re like, okay, I want to spend more time reading that particular book.
I’m not sure what it is, but at the moment, no draw to audiobooks for me.
That is all I have for today.
If you have comments, suggestions, or questions, you can send them to technologybytes at merrickfamily.com.
As always, I want to thank you for listening to the Technology Bytes microcast, and I look forward to the next time we are together taking another bite of technology.
