Everything Bad Is Good for You: By Stephen Johnson
Everything bad is good for you is the fourth book authored by Steven Johnson. In this work, Johnson uses himself as a test subject with regard to the novel neurological technology. Here, the writer takes one of the popular held assumptions that television shows, video games, as well as other popular entertainment forms are damaging to American citizens with regard to moral and cognitive development. The author establishes a contradicting case that is thorough, engaging and persuasive to its audience.
The book which was Published in the year 2005 is based on the model, brought forth by Johnson himself that the modern culture , video games, television shows in particular have become more complicated and more demanding in recent times and has positively improved the societal conditions with regard to novel ideas and intelligence. According to the author, the book is purposed to influenced the readers to perceive that popular culture has on essence grown more intellectually complex and challenging in the past three decades (McClellan, 2005).
The sleever curve is the epicenter of Stephen Johnson’s arguments. It essentially refers to a cosmos of common entertainment which in actual sense trends upwards and in the sense that the present day consumers of culture must do more cognitive work, coming up with strategies that are long term and making snap decisions, with regard to playing of video games, mastering the new development with regard to the internet and social media. The author presents in this book a persuasive case that in the present day little nutritional junk foods advertised by the media, the survivors and millionaires are so popularly derided as the outcome of the declining culture in America. This culture has come to be more stimulating and complex not only with regard to the amount of external information, which viewers require to be understanding but also the complexity in terms of plot. When it comes to media and more especially the television, the writer observes that what these types of media contains may not be very interesting if compared with the cognitive function which such a show may trigger from someone’s mind (39)
Johnson on Media Influence
In this book, everything bad is good for you, the author highlights the ways in which specific pop culture is in essence more demanding intellectually than in the past times. The author compares the television programs such as the Seinfeld, Hill Street Blues and the Simpsons to other popular culture and highlights the intricacy and depth of many computer games. He sees that IQ scores have been recently rising, at the rate of 3 points per decade, probably due to increased engagement of computers by these kids. Accordingly, the IQ scores have been steadily increasingly at that rate for more than 70 years (132)
With regard to the effects of media on children, Stephen Johnson opines that parents and caretakers should not be stressed concerning their children playing video or watching television. According to him, children learn essential problem solving techniques while being engaged in this media. Such children as he argues are in a better position with regard to IQ tests if compared with their parents when they were at that age. He observes that television shows can function as an effectively staged group psychology experiment in motivating and not necessarily pacifying the mind. Combining both scientific explanations and his personal insights, the author disputes the conservative wisdom that is profound on pop culture as pabulum portrays how television shows, video games and movies have evolved to become more complex. As he observes, consumers have been specifically attracted to goods and services that needs extensive mental engagements, from young children who may not had enough of their Disney DVDs to older generation who may find new layers of meaning with each consistent view of Seinfeld. The author strongly asserts that what humans may do for entertainment of simply for fun may also be very much educational as what is being studied in classroom settings. However, he also says that children should not shun good reading habits and engross themselves in popular media (220)
Contrary to popular perceptions, the author puts a strong defense in the modern pop culture where he observes that the appeal of television shows or video games is not possibly through their sexual or violent depictions but rather from he fact that the structure of these television shows and video games triggers the stimulation and exploration of the brain systems(34). In his observation, television is an excellent idea in the determination of how people with skills understands interpersonal relations or in other words, Autism Quotient( whereby, the higher rate of emotional intelligence the lower the Autism Quotient (98). He further points out that reality shows in specific practically displays the uniqueness of this “social network maps” in human interactions, whereby, a group of individuals have intertwined and complex connections (108).
The author puts to test the popular assumption that popular culture has deteriorated the morals, thinking capability and workability of many individuals. Using the term Sleever Curve, which according to him means the twentieth century scientists had been flabbergasted that the society at that time had failed to understand the nutritional advantages of such substances as hot fudge and cream pies. Using this, he argues against the present assumptions by may people concern the deteriorating standards of popular culture. However, he also elaborates that this does not in any particular way mean the popular culture has subsequently superseded the traditional culture (132).
According to this author, earlier forms of television shows made the human relations and narrative more simpler, where as the present trends in multiple threading of program such as the sopranos and in reality shows have greatly improved the cognitive skills of the audience (70). He claims further that the present day videos and television shows have decreased the number of “flashing arrows” and narrative clues that used to assist the audience in understanding the plot. This has therefore, resulted into the audience using more efforts in cognition, being more focused on background information and details if they wanted to grasp more on what they are viewing (78). He observes that though the media industry especially the video game is expanding, literature concerning the subject is quite dismissal. He provides various other sources that could be of assistance with regard to such information. These sources include Pat Kane’s play ethic, ludology.org, seriousgames.org, and got game by Mitchelle Wade (225).
Calacanis (2012) observes that in the last twenty years, many individuals have compared the lean back experience of television with the lean forward experience of computers. According to him, the most significant experience in media is not leaning forward in the computer but rather leaning back to consume video. The assumption in lean forward media is that individuals become engrossed when they use the internet. In this state, they happen to be in scanning mode, vigorously looking for what they want and their attention span is particularly short. In most cases, individuals would utilize the internet with a specific purpose as such articles posted there ought to be short and present the actual point immediately if possible, the videos on the to the other hand ought to be in terms of clips and should only a few minutes. This is because, people nowadays do not have much time to spend on the internet and as they are very busy.
On the to other hand, the lean back media refers to the time when individuals sit down and take their time in watching the television, reading magazines or books and so on. In lean back media, the individual attention span becomes much longer since such is regarded as a pervasive medium and that individuals in this state are in consumption mode. This is probably the reason on why most long forms may not be effective on the internet.
In essence, there are specific times for lean moment and other times for lean in any every individual. In getting things done, people lean forward and in relaxing, they lean back. These presents opportunities for advertisers and media players to take advantage of both of these aspects, targeting people with the right form of experience at the right time. The experiences in lean forward are concerned about tasks, achieving a particular objective for instance, researching certain topics on the internet, checking emails, finding some instructions and so on. In leaning forward, individuals have a goal which they wish to accomplish.
Work Cited
Calacanis, Jason . Lean Back and Lean Forward. http:// launch.co/forget-lean-forward-and-lean
back-its curl-up.html
Johnson, Steven .Everything Bad is Good for You. 2005. Riverhead. ISBN 978-1-59448-194-9.
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McClellan, Jim .”Fun and Computer Games Make for Smarter Children”. 2005.
