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Everything Bad is Good for You

Steven Johnson

Riverhead Hardcover

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Robert Kalinowski's Review of Steven Johnson's Everything Bad Is Good for You

Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R3J7RZQ33Q4XLN Robert Kalinowski's review was made as part of a critical review assignment for the Spring 2009 Economics of Technology seminar at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, taught by Art Diamond. (The course syllabus stated that part of the critical review assignment consisted of the making of a video recording of the review, and the posting of the review to Amazon.)

The Modern World Isn't So Bad

It has been typical of the mainstream (read "old guard") to look down upon new popular entertainment technologies. Movies, TV, video games, the Internet--all have received criticism about how they ruin the mind unlike, say, more classic entertainments like reading. While Mr. Johnson acknowledges various weaknesses of these media, his thesis is that they are not the mindless (bread and) circuses of the modern age. In fact, these entertainments are making us smarter.

In his section on video and computer games, for example, he notes some of the same results that Marc Prensky covers in more depth in his book, Don't Bother Me, Mom. I'm Learning. Namely, that for a game to be successful, it must stimulate the brain's learning response by keeping the challenge slightly above the ability of the user and provide help along the way when necessary. It is the complexity of the modern game with it's intricacy, embedded problems, and cooperative aspects that keep a gamer interested, not the supposed appeal of flashy graphics, speed, and puerile story lines.

In the section on TV, Johnson illustrates how the complexity of story lines has increased a hundred-fold since the beginnings of the medium. He points out that the most popular shows of today do things that older shows would never do: assume background knowledge of the audience, leave out crucial pieces of information to be discovered later (or forever left unanswered), follow a huge cast of characters through multiple intersecting plot lines that arc over an entire season (or more) as opposed to a single episode. (Compare Dragnet to Starsky & Hutch to Hill Street Blues to The Sopranos.)

He completes his argument by noting that modern technologies are rewiring the brain and, in many cases, that's a positive thing. Most everyone's basic abilities in things like pattern recognition and problem-solving have been increasing steadily for the past century. Many school-taught abilities may be stagnant, but many underlying fundamentals are improving, thanks to the challenges of modern media.

Of course, like anything, too much technology use can be a bad thing. So can too much reading, as my parents constantly reminded me when I was a kid, devouring books when they would have rather me be outside playing. The point is, instead of highlighting the worst of today with the best of the past--why is it that no one ever compares The Sopranos to the thousands of forgotten novels of the 19th century?--we should compare apples to apples. Not only, as Mr. Johnson points out, our best to their best, but also our worst to their worst. Modern technology still comes out ahead. When I see my mother downloading digital pictures of her grandchildren, when I see the positive social networking with distant friends and relatives I've done through Facebook, when I see the things that can be learned from 500 cable channels, I can't help but agree.

XBOX 360 is also good for you.

Johnson's arguments are compelling at times and presented in a way that someone who rarely reads could follow. The idea that the more computer games you play the better you will be at problem solving has some merit, but the book falls far short of giving overwhelming evidence it is good for you.
Some of the arguments are like some diets, it is hard to believe that you are actually going to lose weight by eating eggs and bacon all day. There is no doubt that playing computer games will enhance some skills, but not to the extent that Johnson is proposing. Overall it is an interesting read.

Everything Bad is Good for You, College Student Review

The book Everything Bad is Good for You: How Today's Popular Culture is Actually Making us Smarter by Steven Johnson, is a critical and detailed analysis of society and how it, he argues, is positively effected by popular culture. The overall objective of the book is to prove that despite the fact that many believe that our nations obsession with media and popular culture is a means of corruption and "dumbing down" in our society, due to the complex and constantly evolving nature of current media outlets, America's pop culture is actually forcing us to become sharper. This book, while very complex and fact based throughout its entirety, is vastly interesting and an easy read for the general audience. Since Johnson references many genres of television shows, videogames, and movies from a number of decades, the book is good for many ages and types of people. However, without a relative knowledge of said media outlets, some of the key concepts and ideas in the book may be hard to comprehend.

Johnson's main argument throughout the book is that even if our media is brainwashing us, it is a "positive brainwashing" (p. xiii), and should be viewed as what he likes to call a "Sleeper Curve", meaning that America's media throughout time has been consistently, though we may not be aware of it, becoming much more complex and thought-provoking. Because of the intellectual demand that media is putting on us, we are in turn becoming smarter.

Johnson argues that in regards to one of nations biggest industries, video-gaming, "it's not what you're thinking about when you're playing a game, it's the way you're thinking that matters" (p. 40). He then continues to argue that one of the biggest attributes of games is that when playing, one is forced to make decisions, as well as work through difficult ideas and objectives. In respect to television, one of the more passive media outlets, Johnson argues that popular television shows such as Lost, 24, and The West Wing are by and far more intelligent than television shows of the past such as Three's Company and Starsky and Hutch. He even implies that these shows would be somewhat insulting to our intelligence would they be aired as new television today. These modern shows, in the way that plots, characters, and references string together, leaves viewers thinking and questioning exactly what is going on throughout the entirety of nearly every episode. He also tackles what many people claim to be the downfall of society, reality television. Johnson claims that reality television forces the viewer to "adapt to an ever changing rule book" (p. 96). Johnson argues that many of these same principles of media development can be applied to movies and internet as well.

Through statistics, charts, graphs and numerous specific examples, Johnson validly argues his points. Since Johnson does use statistical evidence and graphs, he is able to convince his readers that his book is not just a matter of opinion. Johnson even goes out of his way to note what some people will disagree with him on, and prove their arguments false on a number of topics. Furthermore, Johnson includes a very detailed and extensive "Notes" section describing the statistics and ideas he references in further and clearer detail at the end of the book.

While I must say that I have never been one to think of American popular culture as something that makes us dumber, this book definitely reaffirms my thoughts. I do think that someone who had a negative viewpoint on popular culture would be swayed with the arguments in this book, especially because much of the book is based on concrete information, not just the opinion of the author. One thing that Johnson could have improved upon was his obvious bias. Obviously he is going to be bias toward his argument, but it would have been interesting if he would have shown some information or data that refuted his claims. I think if he would have made a better attempt to represent both sides of the argument, compare and contrast data, and still be able to prove why his beliefs were correct, he would be able to convince even some of his most stubborn critics. Despite this fact, I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for an easy yet eye-opening read. Johnson even manages to make a topic that may not be intriguing to many feel fun and nostalgic. It is obvious when reading Everything Bad is Good for You that Steven Johnson is a very intelligent and interesting man, and through his convincing arguments, we can see that pop culture may be one of the reasons why.

Steven Johnson Book Review

Steven Johnson's book, "Everything Bad is Good for You: How Popular Culture is Actually Making Us Smarter," immediately jumped out at me and grabbed my attention. As a college student who is all too familiar with shows such as "Shot at Love with Tila Tequila," and video games like "Grand Theft Auto," I found myself wondering how this could be possible. However, throughout this book the author gives surprising evidence and facts that support his claim. One of the main reasons the author wrote this book was in response to the general opinion that today's television shows, video games, and movies have negative influences on children and adults alike. Steven Johnson attempts to look past what's on the surface of these shows and explain how television viewers and video game players are improving their cognitive and problem solving skills. He calls this effect the "Sleeper Curve," and this concept is brought up throughout the book. This book would be interesting to a wide array of readers, from those who condemn popular culture, to video game enthusiasts, and especially to parents worried about what their kids and doing with their free time. While the author admits that children should also spend time reading and playing outdoors, he wants parents to know that it is okay, and even beneficial, for children to play video games and watch some of the more mature shows on television.
The first area of popular culture the author chooses is to address is the growing world of video gaming. He aimed to deconstruct the popular belief that video games serve no useful purpose other than possibly increased hand-eye coordination. He explains the vast worlds presented in video games and the methods players must use and master to have success. While a player is stuck on a particular level, Johnson explains, that player must probe his environment looking for patterns and cause and effect relationships. Based on the information gathered, the player makes a hypothesis about how to successfully complete the task, and then the player must re-probe the environment. This process is the basics of the scientific method that video game players are using to complete their tasks. Video game players must constantly use this method to complete each game, and over time, their problem solving skills are vastly increased. He points to a study done at the University of Rochester to support his claims:
One study at the University of Rochester asked subjects to perform a series of quick visual recognition tests, picking out the color of a letter or counting the number of objects on a screen. . . . . Regular gamers consistently outperformed non-gamers on all the skills measured in the study (p. 113).
These results show that there is more to gain from video games than increased hand-eye coordination video game players are actually improving their cognitive skills by playing these games.
Another form of entertainment the author chooses to examine is television. Instead of focusing on the increase in swearing, partial nudity, and nonsense in general, the author wants the reader to focus on the much more complex storylines, and cognitive demands modern television places on its viewers. He explains, "Part of the cognitive work comes from following multiple threads, keeping often densely interwoven plotlines distinct in your head as you watch (p. 63)." He compares the plotlines and complexity of older shows such as "Starsky and Hutch," and "Dragnet," with racier modern shows like "24," and "The Soprano's." When comparing these shows, the differences in cognitive demands between them are staggering. In older shows, plotlines followed one or two central characters and the storyline was very linear, it didn't shift from story to story. Today's shows are so complex that viewers sometimes cannot even grasp and comprehend all the separate storylines and events in one viewing. Johnson attributes this to the growing cognitive appetite of today's television viewer. Simply following a television through an entire season requires a significant amount of mental work. Johnson wants the reader to focus on these aspects instead of the fact that they may be more morally questionable.
The biggest affirmation of Johnson's claims comes with his analysis of the fact that IQ scores have been steadily increasing within as small as one generation. Due to the small amount of time passing between jumps in IQ scores, this cannot be attributed to advances in the gene pool; therefore, this increase must be attributed to environmental factors. Environmental factors that include problem solving, abstract reasoning, pattern recognition, and spatial logic, are the benefits Johnson has been attributing to the benefits of video games and modern television shows and movies. While this does not conclude that video games are the reason for increasing IQ scores, it does show a connection between the two, even if small.
Throughout this book, the author provides interesting facts and pieces of evidence that support his claim that popular culture is actually making us smarter. He does a good job of organizing material in a logical, easy to follow, and interesting way, from his own experiences with video games to in-depth study of IQ tests. I would recommend this book to anyone who comes in contact with popular culture today, which would be the majority of the people living in this country. If you are a skeptic, video gamer, television connoisseur, or parent, this book will prove to interesting and beneficial.