Is Pop Culture Good For You?-Ashley Pohlod

My initial thoughts of this topic before I began reading was that television and social media can't be as educational as other methods that don't involve technology. As I began reading I am now convinced that these platforms can be extremely beneficial and in ways I didn't even consider. For example in Watching T.V. Makes You Smarter by Steven Johnson he described so many different ways our brains our working when watching t.v. By identifying characters and the plot our brain is very involved in not only figuring out the characters but also remembering them as the show continues into the next episodes. Since t.v. is enjoyable I didn't even think about how our brains are working even when we are watching our favorite t.v. show. I previously thought t.v. was only capable of being educational if it was a show designed to teach something like a kids interactive show. 

Although I now view technology slightly different than I did before this assignment. I still believe that in the United States we have an issue on waisting countless hours in front of a screen. Technology has become easy to fill time for not only young kids but also adults and teenagers. Rather than enjoying time with friends we are messaging them or instead of going outside we are inside on our phones. I don't think society as whole has a good balance of time in managing how much of it we spend on our devices. 

Personally I get extremely frustrated when I am trying to talk to someone and they can't even look up from there phone to talk to me. I really enjoy human connection and being able to talk to people about their life experiences and a lot of the time people engage more with their phone than me in a conversation. I think this is something that we really lack in todays society is communication skills and being able to engage with another human. 

There are a lot of good parts of social media. Especially with my future career being in dance social media is something where you can build your network and even get hired for a job from your instagram. So social media is extremely beneficial in that regard. But the constant need to check social media is something that I find draining. 

Going into the future I think there will always be room for both social media and technology. I think as a society what we could do better is time management between engagement on technology versus in person.  Another factor that created an abundance of time for social media to thrive was the Covid-19 pandemic. During that time we had to use social media in order to communicate with anyone. Now that we are out of the pandemic I think we can shift from relying so much on social media. 

To answer the posed question is pop culture good for you? I would have to say yes. Technology provides entertainment, education, and enjoyment and I can't say it doesn't bring other useful opportunities. Without technology I wouldn't be able to take this class. Overall I can say I've learned about the importance and surprising factors that technology can provide. Also we won't ever live in a world where there isn't technology and learning how to use it for its benefits while trying to avoid the cons is something that we are all still learning.