Is Pop Culture Good for You?

 

From an early age, what we watch or listen to has a large impact on us as individuals and as a society. Before the 2000's, pop culture was presented through mass media. Large businesses and media decided what's in and what isn't. They scheduled the shows you would watch, including the time and episode, and what you would listen to on the radio. This meant most people would have the same favorite song or have watched the same show because it was the only thing available. People weren't able to seek music from a small band across the country or rewatch the episode from a show they love whenever they wanted. Technology has changed the way pop culture is presented today, and has expanded what pop culture is. It is no longer only celebrities and songs, it now includes regular people that have blown up online and popular memes people love. You no longer have to wait a week for an episode of Hannah Montana, you can binge watch the whole series online and if you're looking for a new favorite artist, check Youtube, Spotify, Apple Music, or Google to search for something you might like. Popular culture is no longer given to us and decided by big businesses, it's now decided by us and what we want to trend.

Is pop culture good, though? In the article "Watching TV Makes You Smarter," by Steven Johnson, the evolution of television has been proven to be good for the mind. In the past, shows had simple concepts, requiring the viewers to do little to no thinking or analyzing because everything was explained upfront. Today, viewers are required to connect pieces in shows with little information, most popularly in crime shows. These shows don't explain medical terms or the realizations they come across right then and there, they tend to give their costars a look that says "This is what we were looking for," and you're meant to connect the few pieces they have given out within the episode. "You have to focus to follow the plot, and in focusing you're exercising the parts of your brain that map social networks, that fill in missing information, that connect multiple narrative thread." (Johnson, 2005) 

Television is not the only form of popular culture, though. Ted Talk speaker Alexandre O. Philippe defines pop culture as, "...a universal language that manages...to make us dream and smile; to connect us across racial, political, and social divides." A new form of pop culture comes from social media. It is easy to see what people are into at that moment because it will be trending. Whether it be a new meme or a funny phrase, you can't not hear about what's trending. Vine, as one example, is no longer an app you can download and yet everybody quotes from it. A more recent social media app with a large impact is Tiktok. Tiktok has generated popular dances, but it has also created big changes. On June 20th, President Trump was scheduled to have a rally. Tiktok users decided they would "support" and RSVPed tickets, leading to Trump's campaign believing a large crown of over a million people would attend, Instead, the turnout was much less than anticipated. Twitter is another impactful social media platform. It's easy to see what's trending by seeing which hashtags are most used at that moment. Things like this allow people to see social issues like #BreonnaTaylor and wonder, "What is this about?" They then read the tweets and articles attached and become involved in the fight for her justice, pressing retweet or sharing it on their Instagram or Snapchat stories, and having their friends become informed on what's happening. In the past, news outlets had a large control over what we watched but today, anybody can share the stories happening within their town causing people thousands of miles away to read and share it with others.

Phil Miller, another Ted Talk speaker, ends his presentation with, "Pop culture as we know it is probably dead, but long live pop culture." In his talk, he explains the way pop culture has been generated throughout the years, causing the old way of new outlets and mass media to no longer being the main source, but now through apps we can easily access. So, while popular culture may have its downsides, I believe overall it is good. We've moved past mindlessly watching shows and movies and now have to analyze what we are watching. We have come to a point where our mind craves this type of challenge. We grew up being told television will rot our brains, yet we can learn so much from shows such as Law and Order or even Scream Queens. Social media has all types of benefits as well. Our voices now reach people from state to state and even outside of the country. We come together to laugh at funny videos and memes, but we can also learn from each other and powerless people can be heard. Important petitions spread quickly, social issues are heard, awareness is raised, and people simply come together to be there for each other, whether it be through happiness or through hardship. The popular culture we create today is good for individuals and society. Popular culture is influential and is setting a path for how this generation wants to live the future.

Citations:

Johnson, Steven. "Watching TV Makes You Smarter." The New York Times, The New York Times, 24 Apr. 2005, www.nytimes.com/2005/04/24/magazine/watching-tv-makes-you-smarter.html.

TEDx Talks. (2013, July 15). Alexandre O. Phillipe: Why Pop Culture? [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_3UYncNwz4

TEDx Talks. (2015, February 5). Phil Miller: Pop Culture is Dead! [Video file]. Retrieved from  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkDYlQhx0wY