• A REVIEW AND COMMENTARY OF: EVERYTHING BAD IS GOOD FOR YOU: HOW TODAY’S POPULAR CULTURE IS ACTUALLY MAKING US SMARTER BY STEVEN JOHNSON

• A REVIEW AND COMMENTARY OF: EVERYTHING BAD IS GOOD FOR YOU: HOW TODAY’S POPULAR CULTURE IS ACTUALLY MAKING US SMARTER BY STEVEN JOHNSON

Everything bad…

is good for you?

by Marisa Paulson

Are the media making us smarter?Are the media making us smarter?

• Comic by Sean McLean, underwhelmedcomic.com

Video Games as Learning ToolsVideo Games as Learning Tools

• Digital Journal TV explores the benefits video game playing offers kids and teens. A Pew Internet & American Life Project recently showed that nearly every American teen has played a video game, and most gamers show incredible engagement and other positive traits from their time in front of the screen.

Video “How Video Games Can Make Kids Better People from Youtube.com by user digitaljournal. Uploaded 9/19/2008, downloaded 10/17/2010.

THE SLEEPER CURVETHE SLEEPER CURVE

• Johnson asserts that television, film, video

games, interactions on the Web, etc. are not

corrupting our intelligence, but educating us.

• Our culture and media has become more complex, nuanced, stimulating, and thought-provoking over time. Johnson calls this upward path the “Sleeper Curve.”

Photo 1: Online Shopping Ventures, sbjventures.comPhoto 2: University of Wisconsin: Eau Claire, uweccareerservices.org

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VIDEO GAMESVIDEO GAMES

• Often difficult, require time and concentration

• Usually require engagement with other players, guidebooks, online discussion boards

• Must complete sequence of events

• “Probe and telescope,” constantly making decisions and solving problems

• Engage the brain’s reward system: accomplishments result in feel-good hormone dopamine

• Video games have progressed from simplistic Pac Man and Tetris, to complex and layered Legend of Zelda and The Sims

Photo 1: The Video Game Critic, videogamecritic.netPhoto 2: Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess Review, armchairempire.com

Then & Now:

TELEVISION TELEVISION

• More passive than video games, but contain complex narratives

• Many characters and plotlines threaded throughout today’s programs

• No “flashing arrows,” key elements must be picked up, connections inferred by the viewer

• Social intelligence developed by reading characters’ emotions and reactions

• TV shows have progressed from simplistic Dragnet and Dallas, to complex and layered The Sopranos and Lost.

Photo 1: University of Calgary,The Rise of Detective Fiction, ucalgary.caPhoto 2: Sopranos on DVD, theage.au

Then & Now:

FILM FILM

• Like television, risen to new narrative complexity

• More characters, plotlines, elements

• More complex arrangements: reverse chronological, flashbacks and flashforwards, unclear patterns of time

• Movies have progressed from simplistic Mary Poppins and Star Wars, to complex and layered Finding Nemo and Lord of the Rings. – SW Characters: Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia, Grand

Moff Tarkin, Ben Obi-Wan Kenobi, C-3PO, R2-D2, Chewbacca, Darth Vader

– LOTR Characters: Everard Proudfoot, Sam Gamgee, Sauron, Boromir, Galadriel, Legolas Greenleaf, Pippin, Celeborn, Gil-galad, Biblo Baggins, Gandalf, Saruman, Lurtz, Elendil, Aragorn, Haldir, Gimli, Gollum, Arwen, Elrond, Frodo BagginsPhoto 1: Top 25 Movie Franchises, movies.ign.com

Photo 2: watchmoviesstreaming.com

Then & Now:

THE INTERNET THE INTERNET

• Process of acclimating to networked communications has salutary effect on our minds:

– We are forced to learn new platforms at a rapid rate– We function in new channels of social interaction– We are more participatory in the interactive nature of

the Web

Photo 1: Google Instant, stevefolland.blogspot.comPhoto 2: Twitter Universe, flowingdata.com

“Television and automobile society locked people up in their living rooms, away from the clash and vitality of public space, but the Net has reversed that long-term trend.” (p. 124)

CRITIQUE CRITIQUE

• Johnson makes a strong case for the existence of the Sleeper Curve, but little convincing

evidence that smarter media is making us smarter.

– No determined, direct correlation between the media and our brains

– Little evidence that these skills gained from media are transferable to real-life situations

– No explanation as to why these skills couldn’t be and are not learned elsewhere

– Best concrete example: The Flynn Effect

Photo 1: Nature vs. Nurture, wilderdom.comPhoto 2: What Is Intelligence Cover, coverbrowaer.com

Thank you for listening.

Questions?

Comic by Don Addis, movingimages.wordpress.com