There’s a strange period of reflexivity that seems to take hold when communicating with new forms of technology. Podcasting is right in the midst of that phase… most podcasts spend about as much time– in one way or another– talking about the fact that they are podcasting, what they are podcasting with, how fun the act of podcasting is, and putting their podcast in relation to those of other podcasters as they do actually sharing content.

What is it about ‘high’ technology that makes this mandatory? I imagine the first poet memorializing some awesome natural event, surprising himself with a rhyme or piece of wordplay. And then I imagine the first use of the word processor: “The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. I’m word processing. Cool.” I imagine the cave painter of ancient times who accidentally smears the wall and realizes it looks like something familiar and then makes the first representative art, his handprint, a picture of the fearsome bear. And then I hear the podcaster: “Look, I’m podcasting. Cool. Let’s talk about my podcasting.”

Imagine if, after painstaking analyis, we were finally able to decode the strange symbols of the first cave painter. Do you think there’s any chance it says “Hey, I’m painting! On the wall. Painting is cool?”