1. Listening to a podcast to help you fall asleep, which works, until they decide to play "let's take a quick break" music EXTREMELY LOUDLY.
2. Finally finding a podcast that helps you nod off and doesn't have random loud noises, but becoming so reliant on the voices to keep you asleep that you wake up as soon as the podcast finishes.
3. Which means you spend 10 minutes at 2am scrambling to find another episode while half-asleep.
4 If you listen to true crime podcasts, becoming more and more paranoid about whether you'll get kidnapped or murdered.
5 And having to put a ban on your consumption for a bit because suddenly being home alone scares the shit out of you.
6. Wondering if anyone ever buys anything based on the ads in podcasts.
7. And then realising they probably do because every advert is practically burned into your brain.
8. Having to hear your favourite host half-enthusiastically talk about how much they love their new mattress/watch/set of razors.
9. And endure their in-jokes with a guest or friend they've got on the show...GUYS??
10. When you get a highly recommended podcast or you find an interesting investigation only to find out that for whatever reason you just don't like their voice.
11. Or you love the host, but absolutely cannot stand the guest they've got on.
12. The host always introducing the guests with "and without further ado" and the guest always saying "thanks for having me" with annoying predictability.
13. Listening on public transport and not being able to hide your reactions to something funny or shocking.
14. Wondering if anything will ever be as good as Serial.
15. Still searching " podcasts similar to Serial" even though you've been through every suggestion already.
16. Becoming obsessed with a particular host and wondering what they look like.
17. And battling with yourself about whether you should "spoil the mystery".
18. Loving the actual content of a podcast but absolutely hating the intro.
19. And never understanding why a high-quality, interesting podcast needs to have awful intro music and an overdramatic voice-over.
20. Listening to a podcast that involves a group of people talking, and no one bothering to wait their turn to speak.
21. Hearing weird background noises because the host is clearly doing it from their kitchen.
22. And them promising to "edit this bit out later" but never getting round to it.
23. Sound quality on phone calls being so awful you wonder why they are even included.
24. When the podcasts goes off their usual format to try something different and you hate it.
25. Like having a guest when they never normally have one, or when they decide to read through reviews at the start of each episode.
26 When a podcast is aired in a different time zone, so you don't get the new episode until you're already asleep.
27. Or worse, they change the scheduling, so if you've timed your podcast for your walk or something, YOU CAN NO LONGER DO THAT.
28. When a new episode is released, but it's not even a new episode it's just a mashup of "best bits".
29. Or when an update or mini ep is released that's like 3-minutes long and you debate whether you should even bother listening.
30. And so you skip it, only to realise it was actually kind of important or good.
31. When your favourite podcast in the entire world decides to take a break, and you know you're not going to get an episode for weeks, if not months.