Is Pop Culture good for you?

Is Pop Culture Good for You?

Pop culture is a term that refers to products or activities that are currently being directed at and consumed by the mass population. In doing this assignment, I really thought hard about whether Pop culture is good. Pop culture encompasses so many different things that this question is difficult to answer. Pop culture includes the internet/social media, music, movies, various art forms, food, clothing and even hairstyles and makeup.

Not everyone consumes what is considered popular the same way. I believe the consumption depends on what is important to the individual. For example, almost everyone I know has a tick-tock account and creates content or has participated in at least one of the video trends on there. I downloaded the app once, only because my niece created a video and wanted me to watch it and like it for her to get views. For about a week after that I would watch different fun videos there. The moment I needed to manage the space on my iPhone however, I didn’t think twice about deleting the app. It was not important to me at all. In contrast, my twelve-year-old niece would have a heart-attack if she had to delete the app. I can remember when the game Candy crush first gained popularity, I was ALL IN. I spent money, REAL AMERICAN DOLLARS on that game. It consumed hours of my day any time I needed a distraction. Having it connected to my Facebook account, (another part of pop-culture) added another layer of interaction with “friends” constantly asking for lives or sending lives to others to help them continue to play levels of the game.

 

It’s the same for what’s popular now. My 6-year-old’s candy crush is Roblox. He goes to the app anytime he gets screen time on his iPad. He enjoys it for the same reasons so many kids love the app. There are so many games to help pass the time, it is fun, and he can interact with his friends there, as I write this he is on facetime and simultaneously playing a group game with his friends on Roblox. He is an only child in a pandemic. Careful and hesitant as I am about having in-person playdates, this has been a great way for him to continue to have some social interaction and feel less alone. There are dangers involved of course, but it is my job as a parent to monitor that and set limits. Even though this is the popular thing now, it does not mean it controls what happens in my household.

Opinions differ when it comes to pop culture. In an opinion thread on debate.org a commenter posted the following.

“Pop culture is a war against individual freedom to choose one's own way of life and one's own self-definition. Pop culture does not confine itself to music people do not want to have forced into their own homes by neighbors' stereos, it is what you eat, how you speak, and an assigned way of life physically forced down everyone's throat with a fanaticism that make the Islamic State look like the Unitarian Church. You are required to conform to it by a mob of nasty little Adolph Eichmann non-thinking automatons in your job where the majority demand a radio playing it all day at work, You are ostracized if you refuse to be good little boys and girls; eating your Doritos, Drinking your Coke, And growing an enormous pop culture beer belly, You are required to go to bars and drink and you are required to be passionate about sports no matter how patently meaningless it is to toss a balloon through a hoop or watch mutual concussion inflicting contests on a football field.” https://www.debate.org/opinions/is-pop-culture-actually-good-for-you  extreme as his opinion was, many do feel this way.

I learned from Malcolm Gladwell’s ‘Small Change’ article that popular culture such as social media can dilute the true meaning of activism. Steve Johnson’s ‘Watching TV Makes You Smarter’ article showed how much TV watching has changed over the years as Pop Culture has evolved. Opinions will continuously vary. What people deem important will change as it has for decades. Phil Miller’s TED Talk showed the evolution of Pop culture when he referenced the music industry and how consumption of music has changed. He ended his talk by saying “Popular culture as we know it is probably dead” Although ‘Dead’ is a strong word here, I do believe there will be a constant shifting of opinions as new artforms, artist and products are introduced to new generations of consumers.

I can say that what you choose to consume from pop culture is what defines your experience with it. I choose what is useful and entertaining to me. If it doesn’t serve me in a positive way, I just don’t allow it into my space.