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Everything Bad is Good For You
On March 23, 2006 by Jamie Madigan
I recently read this book by Steven Johnson entitled "Everything Bad is Good For You -- How Today's Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter" and I have to say it's one of the most interesting things I've come across in quite some time. In general, Johnson describes a phenomenon he calls "the sleeper curve." He says that the vessels of today's pop culture --mass media like TV shows, video games, and the Internet in particular-- have grown steadily more complex and cognitively demanding over the last 30 years. What's brilliant about Johnson's arguments is that he divorces them from discussions about the content of the media as well as its artistic or moralistic merit. Sure, the artistic value of The Legend of Zelda is nill when you compare it to literary classics (save the princess AGAIN? are you kidding me?), but Johnson notes that that's the wrong way to look at it. Instead, you have to look a the cognitive demands of the game and how it encourages the player to learn absurdly complex rules and follow them along while using cognitive functions relating to spatial intelligence, memory, and logical reasoning. What's more, Johnson actually makes a pretty good case for how media like video games and television are, on average, actually making us smarter instead of dumbing us down.
There's more in the book than I'd want to try and cover in one post, but one topic Johnson talks about that's particularly relevant to this website is that of emotional intelligence. The author spends a good chunk of one chapter discussing how shows like Survivor and The Apprentice are taxing on emotional intelligence. (As you may know, emotional intelligence is often defined as how well one can read the mental states and emotions of other people, track relationships between and within groups of people, and use that information to understand and predict what people will do.) Watching reality television shows like The Apprentice requires emotional intelligence to make sense of what the various contestants are doing and WHY they're doing it. It's more than Bob Barker ever asked us to do on The Price is Right. To understand why Contestant A hates Contestant B but decided to create an alliance with Contestant C is a form of intelligence, Johnson argues. Many folks debate the merits of constructs like emotional intelligence, but he's definitely on to something I'd never thought of, especially relative to the simplicity of earlier shows.
As I said, Johnson also talks about other forms of intelligence and makes a pretty good case for how consumption of today's more sophisticated (no, really) television, movies, and video games is actually making people smarter. This isn't to say that the content of the shows is teaching them to be more prosocial, kinder, or caring, but if it does make people smarter it does kind of raise the question of how wise it is to raise a new generation of amoral, desensitized, super geniuses. That future problem aside, though, the book is really fascinating and I recommend picking it up so you can ponder for yourself.
Existing comments:
Posted by Bryan at March 23, 2006 11:00 AM:
I too enjoyed the book although I think he may be a bit too optimistic at times (how exactly does American Idol train your brain?). I did enjoy his analysis of how shows have changed over the years.
There are a couple books out there in the same vein; one is "What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy" by James Paul Gee. I'll get that as soon as I'm done with the 20 other books on my nightstand.
So back to I/O, if all this media is making people smarter, and society in general is becoming smarter (i.e., Flynn effect) can we expect job performance increases across the board as upcoming generations enter the workforce? Will we be keeping up with the increasing cognitive demands of the workplace? Or will other KSAOs become as, or more, important? Where's Alvin Toffler when I need him.
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