Johnson wants to understand popular cultur. n the very practical sense of wondering what watching . Johnson’s challenge to the oft-repeated lament that mass culture is dumbing down is as enlightening as it is necessary.

Johnson wants to understand popular cultur. n the very practical sense of wondering what watching something like The Dukes of Hazzard does to the way our minds work. Malcolm Gladwell, The New Yorker. It’s scientific and literary rigor, couch-potato style.

Everything Bad Is Good for You: How Today's Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter is a non-fiction book written by Steven Johnson. Published in 2005, it is based upon Johnson's theory that popular culture – in particular television programs and video games – has grown more complex and demanding over time and is making society as a whole more intelligent. The book's claims, especially related to the proposed benefits of television, drew media attention.

Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read

Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Start by marking Everything Bad is Good for You: How Popular Culture is Making Us Smarter as Want to Read: Want to Read savin. ant to Read. We're constantly being told that popular culture is just mindless entertainment - but, as Steven Johnson shows in Everything Bad is Good for You, it's actually making us more intelligent. Steven Johnson puts forward a radical alternative to the endless complaints about reality TV, throwaway movies and violent video games.

brains, is actually posing new cognitive challenges that are actually making our minds measurably sharper

brains, is actually posing new cognitive challenges that are actually making our minds measurably sharper. After reading Everything Bad is Good for You, you will never regard the glow of the video game or television screen the same way again. With a new afterword by the author. More by Steven Johnson. The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic-and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World. Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience & Cognitive Neuropsychology. Social Science, Media Studies. Social Science, Popular Culture.

Steven Poole is not convinced by Steven Johnson's argument for junk television, Everything Bad Is Good . So much for the pseudo-science.

Steven Poole is not convinced by Steven Johnson's argument for junk television, Everything Bad Is Good for You. Steven Poole. The weirdest aspect of the book is that it defends popular culture while holding an attitude of contempt for it. "With mass culture," Johnson opines, "the individual works are less interesting than the broader trends"; and "the content of most entertainment has less of an impact than the kind of thinking the entertainment forces you to do". In other words, he is a snob: yes, this stuff is crap, but look, it's useful crap!

Elegantly and convincingly, Johnson demonstrates that our culture is not declining but changing — in exciting and stimulating ways we'd do well to understand. You will never regard the glow of the video game or television screen the same way again.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 211-234). Introduction : the sleeper curve - Part one - Part two - Notes on further reading - Notes - Acknowledgments. But prominent social and cultural critic Steven Johnson argues that our popular culture has never been smarter.

Johnson illustrates how the Sleeper Curve is positively altering the mental development of young people today

Johnson illustrates how the Sleeper Curve is positively altering the mental development of young people today. He was the co-founder of the online magazine Feed and currently runs the blog stevenberlinjohnson.

a book by Steven Johnson. Pop Culture Doesóor Doesn'tóMake Us Smarter. Johnson says the pop culture we soak in every day is not frying our brains, but making our minds measurably sharper. Johnson hits us with the questionable thesis that looking at crap is good for us because it's better crap than in the past and because of the kind of thinking the entertainment forces you to do. We're Unconvinced about Increased Sharpness from Staring at Crap or That We're Really Getting Smarter.