Pop culture is one of the most influential forces on our society. But is that influence a good thing? Is the influence from modern pop culture a healthy thing for developing minds of children and young adults? I do not think that it is. Pop culture has grown and developed to the point that it has actually gone to far. I believe that the amount of information available has become so inflated that most people are intimidated by fact checking or looking for another source. What I mean is, anyone and everyone can now post an article or post all over the internet without being edited. Because there is so much unedited information floating throughout the web, people have been forced to tune into the major news outlets or their favorite celebrities and align themselves with whatever information those sources are supporting. Rarely, in my opinion, do people fact check the information that they read, see, or hear anymore.
Celebrities have become walking talking advertisements that people idolize. Society has been convinced that in order to be accepted you must dress, act, socialize, and embody that of the celebrity in which you choose. People religiously follow the lives and trends of specific celebrities but fail to invest the same amount of time and energy into their families and friends. How many people can recite intimate details of the Kardashians personal lives but can’t remember their significant other or parents’ birthdays? We have shifted the importance away from strong family values or strength, support, and integrity and replaced them with meaningless trends, fashions, and a false sense of self-being.
The mainstream media’s role in all of this is to sell people on the importance of pop culture. News outlets used to pride themselves on reporting factual evidence that allowed the common person to form their own opinions and conclusions. The modern media machine does the opposite. The goal or objective of the mainstream media is to captivate the audience and dictate what they should think and how they should feel, without reporting factually. This is extremely dangerous. Malcolm Gladwell quotes Evgeny Morozov and Golnaz Esfandiari in his article Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted. Morozov mentions that Twitter did not play a significant role in the 2009 Iranian protests, mainly because Twitter is almost nonexistent in Iran. Esfandiari goes on to say, “Simply put, there was no Twitter revolution inside Iran.” Gladwell explains that in the case of the 2009 Iranian protests, an overwhelming majority of Tweets were from Western countries. People in Western countries were quick to praise Twitter for helping to organize protests, but very few people questioned why almost all the tweets were in English, which is not the native language used in Iran. This amplifies reporter’s and people’s willingness to go along with the crowd and not dig any deeper than the information provided on the surface.
Self-esteem and self-worth have also taken a massive hit. Confidence is no longer measured by a person’s accomplishments in their career, professional, or personal life. Confidence now is measured on how many likes you have received, how many followers you have, and who has re-tweeted a comment or status you have posted. Social media has a negative effect on an individual’s self-esteem and self-confidence. Moreover, take a look around a crowded restaurant on any given evening and observe how many people are engrossed with their phones and tablets. People have become too focused on what the people online will think of the fact that they’re at dinner with their friends and do not actually spend time conversing and enjoying the company of the people that they are sitting with.
The younger generations of today do not posses some of the most basic communication skills. Most young people struggle with in person communication and interaction because most of their communication is web based. It is rare for a young adult to pick up a phone and physically call someone to relay a message or conduct business. Unfortunately, business is largely still finalized with face to face interaction. Closing a deal is as much a personal interaction as it is a business negotiation. As more and more people close themselves off from personal interaction, it is scary to think about what the future of our planet going to look like.
Well done.
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