Is Pop Culture Good For You?

 

Is Pop Culture Good For You? 

The question of whether pop culture is good for you or not is a hard one. Also, as a person in a generation that is addicted to their phones, but also someone that grew up very old-fashioned, I have trouble answering this prompt. So, to satisfy both sides of my opinion, I will argue that pop culture is both bad and good for society.

Pop Culture IS Good For You

Pop culture is good for you. Well, not you specifically, but society overall. As author Malcolm Gladwell states in his article, Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not be Tweeted (2010), “But it is simply a form of organizing which favors the weak-tie connections that give us access to information over the strong-tie connections that help us persevere in the face of danger,” he shows us how pop culture had helped people connect over common topics. When we utilize pop culture and social media to breach the barriers of social activism, we can reach many more people than those in our community or maybe a few states over. However, as we do this, we are not only sharing our own opinions but also sharing a common tie with others with a similar story. This allows us to go from feeling alone in our situation to having hundreds of others whom we can connect with. In the article, the group of four people at a racist café grew to be hundreds of people, black and white whom all felt a similar injustice. When we utilize these technological means that number can skyrocket to thousands of people that come together to fight social injustice.

Pop Culture IS NOT Good For You

Although social media and pop culture are useful for spreading information, some information found in pop culture is not meant for children under the age of 18. As Steven Johnson explains in his article, Watching TV Makes You Smarter (2005), “In pointing out some of the ways that popular culture has improved our minds, I am not arguing that parents should stop paying attention to the way their children amuse themselves,” he is implying that when it comes to younger generations, censoring certain social media and pop culture is vital. Some messages and information are not made for children.  Pop culture can be detrimental to young children because of the realness of the world, and parents should be mindful of what they show their children, depending on their age. It is ultimately a parent’s decision on how to introduce their child to the world and how they wish to inform them on the topics that are relevant and events that are happening now.  When we expose ourselves to social media and pop cultures like tabloids, magazines, news outlets, and subliminal advertising, we are also exposing ourselves to concepts like violence, racism, homophobia, and explicit media. These topics are not meant for certain demographics, specifically children, and need to be moderated for those groups.

The main message to take away from this analysis is that whether pop culture is good or not, we will always be subjected to it. Pop culture is metaphorically pushed down our throats all day every day. We see it through TV, our phones, window advertising, the radio, and more. What’s important is that we do not let it control our lives, that we form our own opinions, and do not create those opinions without proper research. Pop culture is what we make it. Good or bad, it’s always there, so we just have to learn to live with it.

 

 -EM