Hello everyone, your Fairy God-Librarian here, and I am surprised to admit that I’ve got…Audiobook Fever. Yes, the stalwart for print media, has entered an audiobook phase that hits me whenever I am not engaged in other activities that normally take my attention.
Here’s the story:
Y’all, I am not a fan of silence. It’s deafening in ways that are not necessary, thank you very much, except in cases of sleep, which would make it mandatory. So, I usually have a video or music playing whenever I am cooking, working, cleaning, getting dressed, etc. I believe it soothes my low level of hyperactivity, or really that I am slightly fidgety, when whatever I am currently doing is not engaging my mind sufficiently enough. When it doesn’t involve needing something in my hands, like a book or a fidget spinner, to control my fidgeting, some pleasing sounds will normally do the trick.
This helps when I’m driving by myself. And y’all. I drive a lot. Twice a day, to and from work, five days a week, every week in the year I drive 35-45 minutes just because I couldn’t find an affordable, available apartment in the county in which I work. I had to settle for a less preferable apartment complex in the county next door. I’m used to this, but it still grinds my gears because of all the money I spend on gas each month and let me tell you, just like teachers, librarians, especially librarians and teachers in my state, do not make a living wage. Despite having a college degree, I make less than fast food workers who barely finished high school just because their place of employment is a private company and mine persists on public taxes. It’s appalling but familiar territory.
So, when I’m driving, I’ll put on the radio. It’s normally NPR, the BIN, or music. When it’s NPR, sometimes I find that I am a bit more anxious during that day owing to the oversatuation of devasting world news. And y’all, I love NPR. Huge fan. But with all of the wars and terrorist attacks and stupid politicians passing inhumane laws and environmental disasters and murders, I just can’t take it.
My coworkers notice this. A few months ago, two of them advised me to cut NPR cold turkey until I’ve gotten my anxiety under control again. At first, it was difficult. I genuinely do think that NPR is a vital resource for the American people and listening to it isn’t always right-wing-politicians-screwing-people-over this and genocide-in-the-Middle-East that. Sometimes it’s funny stories and fun trivia games, good news and book reviews.
But despite all the good and interesting listening, my coworkers were right. So, before the end of the day, I got an idea, and it’s really crazy that it took my dumb self so long to realize this. Instead of doing what I normally do, like channel surfing for a good song, listening to playlists on my phone for the billionth time, or using up my data to listen to a fun-u-cational (fun + educational) video on Youtube, I would instead put on one of my favorite children’s books in eAudiobook from my free Hoopla account to help me pass the time. Choosing one of my favorite books from my childhood, like the Harry Potter series, means that I know for a fact that I’m going to like what I’m listening to as I’m driving home or moving around in my apartment by myself and won’t feel the constant need to change the channel or scroll endlessly for something good.
And it works! I am currently on the fourth Harry Potter book, and the sound of Jim Dale reading aloud my queen’s beloved words is a huge comfort to me. I put on the eAudiobook as I drive to and from work and while I’m going about my day at home when there is nothing else currently occupying my mind deeply enough (which doesn’t normally happen except for cases like a super interesting book, movie, conversation, etc.).
Why in the world haven’t I thought of this before?? I know that I am a staunch defender of the print/physical media (books, newspapers, paintings, etc.), but I’m not that much of a troglodyte! I still prefer to write on my laptop, keep my files and notes as digital as possible, and my music and movies/TV digital unless I can’t own it in any other affordable way except a physical copy. I dropped balancing my checkbook in an actual checkbook the minute I realized my bank was already doing that for me on the website and app. And I’m constantly walking around my apartment scrolling endlessly on YouTube for something to watch to keep the silence at bay. Now I don’t have to scroll endlessly before finding something I like! As long as I know what book I want to read, I can pull it up instantly, and there it is, keeping the silence and loneliness at bay whenever I’m stuck in a boring, monotonous activity like driving 45 minutes twice a day to and from work. And y’all, I like certain background frequencies like green and brown noise, but that is so not an engaging silence blocker for super monotonous tasks like driving. Green noise is for sleeping, reading, or whenever I’m working on creative hobbies like writing or painting, which are very engaging activities since they require so much original thinking.
This Audiobook Fever has proven a delightful distraction. I love that I am no longer devoting so much of my time to scrolling on YouTube or streaming platforms for something interesting to watch or listen to, which makes me feel like I am also spending a lot less time being controlled by my phone. Of course, I still use green noise on Alexa, the radio, the TV, my playlists, and YouTube to vanquish the silence, but because of the free access to my local library’s Hoopla account, I am more readily present and less uncontrollably anxious over such small aspects of my life like hatred of silence or inactivity.
In summary, print media must be preserved but not in the face of utter madness. For example, my parents STILL balance their checkbooks in their actual checkbooks. STILL. And they STILL write out their shopping lists on paper notes instead of doing so on their phones and then deleting them when they’re done. UTTER MADNESS. Like, I get wanting to revert to snail mail every once in a while, but for the most part, JUST CALL THEM OR SEND THEM AN EMAIL OR TEXT FOR GOODNESS SAKE.
And now I listen to my Harry Potter eAudiobook all the time. Two weeks, and I’m already halfway through the fourth book. On top of whatever print book I am currently reading. Y’all, that’s ALL the books. ALL THE BOOKS, MWA-HA-HA-HA! ¡Feliz de los libros!
Happy reading!
Love,
Lacie 🙂
Image credit: “Audio Book” by jeff_golden is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 using Creative Commons.