Also I can read faster than anyone can talk and I feel like it slows my brain down. Plus the sheer annoyance of someone "umm"ing and stumbling, and laughing and chatter in the background making it hard to hear

This! I realized I read by some sort of gestalt method, recognizing the entire word rather than interpreting the collection of letters. Waiting for someone to sound out a word and matching it to my verbal database in order to follow a story is endlessly frustrating. When I'm talking to someone in a conversation, I can generally predict the pattern of their thoughts and am tracking the words to provide confirmation.

It would be catastrophic to try to listen to a podcast or audio book while I drive, it would take far too much concentration.

I only listen to podcasts when I'm walking and/or on public transit. I almost never watch online video.

Same.

I think of podcasts a lot like radio. I like the intimacy of the voice in my ear. It's not a great way for me to retain information, so they wouldn't be my first way of getting information, but I like them to tell me a story.

And rapid topic change...

Work related email composition question: I am writing to Ministries in other provinces asking them how they handle a particular issue. When I have only a general inquiries email address, is "Dear Sir or Madam" the best way to begin the email?

For me, podcasts are perfect for commuting, cooking and cleaning. I like being able to listen to them when I can't read. Most of my favorites have already been listed above, so this is just a token "me too!"

Also I can read faster than anyone can talk and I feel like it slows my brain down. Plus the sheer annoyance of someone "umm"ing and stumbling, and laughing and chatter in the background making it hard to hear

This is also me. Adding in auditory processing issues, and podcasts are very much Not For Me. Although I managed to listen to a NFL-centered one on my commute last year, but it was only 15 minutes, and the podcaster was very slick, so he used very few filler words.

When I have only a general inquiries email address, is "Dear Sir or Madam" the best way to begin the email?

It sort of feels overly formal for our modern world, but if you don't know who you're talking to, and a ministry feels fairly conservative, it seems like maybe the best bet. I might go with "Dear colleagues"?

The only podcasts I listen to are Night Vale, which is more of a performance than a talk show, and Jon's radio show, which not really a podcast either, but the podcast app is a convenient way to consume it.

I've tried podcasts a few times but it's about the same as TED talks or things like that. I'd rather read the iformation than have to listen to it.

Occasionally it's interesting but I don't retain stuff well enough. And a lot of times I find the voices irritating (I can't realy listen to NPR either). I'd rather just be able to read what ever it is I'm trying to learn so I'm not distracted because someone's voice is too quiet or nasally or if I were reading I could skim past to the next part and then go back and read later.

I wihs I could get into podcasts.

I have now totally set myself up to work late tonight, by frittering away my one free hour in the day, but I really feel like what I need to do won't take more than an hour or so. And I just got myself a coffee treat (just decaf, but still) so I think I am fortified for it! Still, though -- why can't I just work straight through the day? Why do I need so many breaks in my life???

I listen to Night Vale, Wait Wait, and Ask Me Another. Almost always while commuting.

Hm. While cleaning is a use case I had not considered, I suppose. But I tend to put on music then.

I am super over people who are slow and need a task explained to them eight times and I'm still not certain if they are doing it right but I am having them do it because I don't have time? But then I worry maybe the issue is like the guy I kept emailing--I was like "I can help with the question you had but I need to know which X these Y are associated with" and he was like "yes, that's part of the number" and I'm like "indeed it is...but you didn't put the number in the spreadsheet you gave me" and he kept insisting he had and finally realized he was thinking of a whole other spreadsheet. And I was right, but now he can't get me the info for another day. (Worse yet this is all drama about stuff that should've been handled like a year ago but now it hasn't been and there's super soon deadline and blah blah blah)