Johnson, Steven. Everything Bad is Good For You. 1st. New York: Riverhead Books, 2005. Print.
Steven Johnson attempts to debunk the worst-case scenario lament that popular culture is steadily declining and turning our society into mindless, apathetic zombies. This book is a fascinating exploration into the world of new media and the effects this media is having on our kids, on our lives, and our minds. Arguing for what he terms “The Sleeper Curve” (named after a Woody Allen movie in which future scientists have discovered that all junk food is really good for us), Johnson takes a critical look at the evolving trends in gaming, television programming, the Internet and film. The book is a interesting glimpse into the studies of new media, pop culture, economics, and neuroscience, as Johnson uses a multilayered approach to his argument that pop culture trends are actually making us smarter. Drawing from specific examples, he illustrates how gaming is a complex process of problem solving in which it the users are interactively engaged in telescoping and parsing in order to proceed through the multiple dimensions of a virtual world. He also takes a look at television programming in the past to show how prime time shows of today are explore complex social networks and multilayered narrative structures unlike any so-called mindless entertainment of the past. The interactive and participatory nature of the Internet demands more reading and writing than most naysayers give it credit for, and even children’s films are designed to be so in depth that they can be viewed time and time again by both children and parents alike and still maintain a modicum of interest and new discovery. This book is a valuable resource in that it provides a boost of confidence for what we are doing as scholars in the field of new media studies.
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