Podcasts are wonderful and I've learned so much from them. I went from being absorbed with libertarian podcasts, to bitcoin podcasts, to carnivore podcasts.
But I've gone full-on into podcasts a bunch of times, for months on end. This means that I would turn on a podcast when doing ANYTHING that wasn't absorbing, like work or reading. That means I would turn on a podcast when just going to the bathroom.
And it felt like the podcasts were colonizing my brain. Like I had this craving for a voice inside my head, to distract me from the "discomfort" of being a little bit bored, a little bit at loose ends. It's another dopamine source. It distracts you from doing real things, in your own life, as opposed to listening to other people.
I'm working on listening to podcasts now only while I'm sunbathing, or doing yardwork.