Contemporary Literacies: Is Pop Culture Good for You?

  The phrase our parents and grandparents love to grill us with, "these damn phones have ruined this generation!" So their answer to this question would be a very hard no. Even though I am a part of this generation and contribute to the population being possessed  by pop culture, I will be the first to admit that I do think pop culture is both good and bad for you. I would say it is about an even 50/50 slip. The good? An easy way to connect with your friends/family. From video games to TikTok, the possibilities are pretty much endless with how technological advance we are in today's day in age. Through video games, you can join parties online to be able to talk to your friends while playing the game together, you also do not even need to be playing the same game together, you can be playing two totally different games and still be able to talk in the live party. Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok are the 5 main social media influences today. I will say that I have all 5 downloaded on my Iphone and I have an account for every one of them. I will also admit that these 5 apps have consumed me. I use Snapchat as my means of communication with my friends. Instagram and Twitter is where I keep up to date with sports information, since I am a sports geek. Facebook is where I keep up to date with my family, since I consider Facebook a more mature social media outlet. TikTok is where I enjoy humor and watch live streams and what not. So while they all offer something positive to me, they each consume me at the same time. I am obsessed with social media. 

Now getting to this week's content and our group discussions, I think the content and what my group and I discussed correlate with my opinion on Pop Culture. Social media, specifically Twitter, has such a hold on the world nowadays that Mark Pfeifle called for Twitter to win the Nobel Peace Prize. He also stated that without Twitter, the people of Iran would not have had the courage to stand up for themselves and feel empowered to stand up for their freedom and democracy. James Glassman, a former state senior department official said that Facebook is “the best hope for us all.” He felt Facebook and other social media components have the U.S. an advantage over terrorist groups. Sociologist Mark Granovetter states that the internet lets us exploit the power of distant connections with high efficiency. He mentions how easily accessible it is to connect buyers and sellers and other logistical functions via the internet. 

Our group discussed words, phrases, and sentences we felt contributed to the content of this week relating to pop culture. The phrases and sentences we ranked were really interesting given how they pertain to social media. The first place phrase we ranked is “craving connection.” We felt this pertained to Pop Culture as in people want to feel they are connected to someone/thing. Social Media gives them satisfaction that they belong. You can fit in with people with the same interests as you that like to talk about/live stream the same things you like. The #3 sentence we ranked was “people in today's age want to feel like they are part of something instead of actually being a part of something.” This is where you see the cowards of social media. This is where the “keyboard warriors” come into play. These are people that hide behind their screen and type what they think they can back up. When in reality there is nothing you could do to make them say this with their chest in person. 

The answer to Is Pop Culture Good for You can be twofold. With what I have blogged I think you can tell I am on both sides of the fence. I know I would not be able to function without it, but I know at the same time it has consumed me and given its user a false reality of what communication is and should be. If I had to give a final definitive answer, I would say yes. Yes it is good for you as long as you limit yourself and do not let it become who you are. Unfortunately, I think we could all agree that is a tall task.