Popular Culture! Appreciate it!


Snapchat. Twitter. Facebook. Netflix. Youtube. Google. These are all common things utilized by a great majority of individuals in today’s modern society. Many utilize these websites, or social networks for entertainment purposes as well as to seek both pleasure and happiness. Commonly, these can all be categorized as part of something known as “popular culture.” The term “popular culture” can be interpreted in various different forms depending on the circumstance. However, it is commonly known for its positive impacts on people’s lives. Successfully, popular culture can improve an individual’s mental capacity, help save a life, and become a source for new ideas and information. Most importantly, popular culture can socially unite a great majority of individuals.

To begin with, popular culture can help preserve a person's life. Unfortunately, in the past, it was extremely difficult for an individual in great need of an organ to find a donor. In the United States, there are thousands of people on the U.S transplant list, anxiously waiting for a donor to appear. Sadly, there are only a few percentage that get the organ they needed. Fortunately, with the help of social media, many individuals have been able to find their perfect match! In the article, “Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted,” Gladwell (2010) summarizes a story concerning a professor who got myelogenous leukemia. Unfortunately, he was in great need of a bone-marrow transplant, and couldn’t find a match among his friends and family. Happily, with the help from Facebook, and Youtube, this professor’s story went viral, enabling him to find a match. Most importantly, “twenty-five thousand new people [were] registered in the bone-marrow
database” because of him (Gladwell, 2010, page 320). In many other cases, social media can help create charity donations for a reasonable cause—either for a Hurricane Relief, help feed the hungry, and much more. Likewise, it can create challenges to promote awareness for diseases like the Lou Gehrig’s disease. The challenge associated with this disease was commonly known as the Ice Bucket Challenge. Luckily, through this challenge, millions of dollars were generously donated by thousands of celebrities, and common people. As Phil Miller (2015) addressed, social media movements such as the Ice Bucket Challenge were possible because of the help from a significant, life altering device—our cell phones. Additionally, Miller also stated that these movements were temporary; they are “like a wave, it draws on society and then withdraws quickly.” Indeed, they may be momentary, however, social media movements do leave an enormous legacy. Overall, social media, an example of popular culture, does indeed have the power to save not just one life, but thousands of them.

 In the same way, popular culture such as juvenile sitcoms, and violent television dramas and video games have the ability to improve an individual’s mental capacity. According to Johnson (2005), these genres can be nutritional for the mind, and enhance a person's cognitive faculties. Additionally, based on the quality of entertainment, these shows also help an individual think deeper. Indeed, for many, it may seem hard to believe how television shows can make an individual smarter. For instance, Phil Miller (2015) discusses how the way television shows are viewed have negatively changed. As claimed by Miller, people have taken advantage of video-on-demands, spending hours watching their favorite shows rather than depending on serial Television. People feel free to choose whatever show they want to watch at anytime of the day. In fact, this may be true, however, with the increase in attention-grabbing scenes, viewers follow four simple steps that leads to intelligence: comprehending, patience, remembering, and analyzing. Certainly, shows as simple as “SpongeBob SquarePants,” requires very little thinking and comprehending. However, in shows like this, kids are required to also analyze “complex social networks, managing resources, tracking subtle narrative intertwining, and recognizing long-term patterns” (Johnson, 2005, page 294). Overall, regardless of the genre, all television shows are nutritional for the mind.

         Finally, popular culture has the power to unite. Unfortunately, in life, there are various things that divide us—politics, religion, cultural beliefs and social issues. However, there is only one thing that enables us to merge as one—that is popular culture. For instance, Alexandre O. Philippe (2013) addresses his opinion towards the viral video, “Gangam Style.” Philippe emphasizes how PSY, the creator of the song, gained a lot of popularity by doing one thing—making people smile. Next, he brings up “Paul: The Psychic Octopus,” who successfully predicted the outcome of seven consecutive games during the 2010 World Cup. Through this, Paul, an octopus, was able to bring great joy to soccer fans from diverse parts of the world. Successfully, both PSY, and Paul were able to unite people, and achieve a significant thing—making people happy. 

To reemphasize, most people view popular culture as just “a guilty pleasure.” However,  it isn't this at all! Popular culture is a universal language that connects everyone politically, socially, and racially. It has the power to change anything in its way! Especially, in today’s modern society, it has the potential to impact everyone in various positive ways. While it unites socially, racially and politically, it can also strengthen an individual’s cognitive faculties regardless of the show or age. Most importantly, popular culture can save thousands of lives with social media movements. Indeed, pop culture does matter! 

References 
T. (2013, July 15). Retrieved September 22, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_3UYncNwz4&t=368s
T. (2015, February 05). Retrieved September 22, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkDYlQhx0wY
Gladwell, M. (2010). Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted.
Johnson, S. (2005). Watching TV Makes You Smarter.

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