Is Pop Culture Good For You?

As I read the “Gladwell Article- Small Changes” and “Johnson Article- Watching TV Makes You Smarter” articles and listened to “Pop culture is dead!” and “Why Pop Culture?” TED talks, I can say that pop culture is good for you. A reason people are against pop culture is because it is a change they are not used to. In the article, Small Changes the author Malcolm Gladwell, talks about how social media has changed how people fight for social and political changes. Also, it isn’t as effective as when people did sit-ins like the one he mentioned in Greensboro, North Carolina. As the sit-ins were caused without the help of social media, Malcolm believes that the change to social media for activism is unnecessary. I think this to be wrong as with pop culture and social media, we are aware and can connect with people who experience problems we are currently facing. 

Another reason people are against pop culture is that it may cause an obsession with becoming a celebrity. In (Ted 2015) Phil Miller says “Our children and by association, ourselves, are obsessed with celebrities. It's fed into our homes. Endlessly, all day. And this causes a problem. This need for recognition. This, 'See me!' that social media plays directly into. 75% of parents think negative influences from mass media are a serious problem”(10:55-11:30). This necessarily is not always the case as parents can be in control of what their child sees and what they pay attention to. Also having a balance of pop culture and open communication for the kids can fight against the negative effects associated with celebrity obsession


Pop culture has also helped us in many ways such as how we learn. These ways include watching television and understanding the character's emotions. The text “Watching TV Makes You Smarter” talks about how television is more than just entertainment and can be a good mental exercise. Steven Johnson states “I happen to be sympathetic to that argument, but it's not the one I want to make here. I think there is another wav to assess the social virtue of pop culture. one that looks at media as a kind of cognitive workout.” Just like how we can train our working out trains our body, our minds can train as we analyze plots and characters to make connections. 

Another way pop culture is good for us is because it brings us together. As people, we are divided by our personal beliefs. But with pop culture, we aren’t divided by what is currently popular. For example, in (TED 2013) Alexandre said “But look, politics divides us, religion divides us, social issues divide us, culture beliefs and values divide us… But, this gentleman, PSY, For a couple of months of course, he was all over the news, he was everywhere. And he made us smile. And really in doing that, he actually brought us together.” This shows that what we find entertaining creates connections and allows us to engage with one another more positively.





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