Steven Johnson Everything Bad Is Good For You Analysis

In today’s society video games have a large influence on people. We also might be driven to the point of where we are dependent on them. In fact, being so engulfed in video games could help children become more focused.In fact, parents would probably disagree and say that video games wouldn’t be essential to learning because it would probably be considered a waste of time for children and time-consuming. Parents would also disagree with the content of what is in the game, but there is a great possibility that video games could actually make us smarter. Steven Johnson explains that the games we are used to playing can improve our visual intelligence and that it would be good to learn new strategies through gaming. Video games should be an

Video games are a fast growing form of technology. This issue has to be discussed because of the two confronting sides that embark it. Because of the issue video games have to either continue growing as they are or they have to be stopped completely or a settlement between the two parties has to be

Using persuasive writing, Wright begins to influence his audience that game play is a beneficial source of entertainment not a wasteful one. Playing video games increases creatively, self esteem and improve problem solving skills of the players. Video games are becoming test runs that appear or feel close to the real thing. Where you can control everything with added effects like magic or future technology. Games have the potential to exceed almost all other forms of entertainment media. They tell stories, play music, challenge us, allow us to instantly communicate and interact with others. Encourage us to create things, connect us to new communities, and let us play with people across the world. Unlike most other forms of media, games are inherently tangible. According to Wright young children spend their days in imaginary worlds, substituting toys and make believe into the real world that they are just beginning to explore and understand. Wright states that games are the result of imagination and that they consist of rules and goals. Generation of teenagers has grown up with different set of games. Teenagers use the scientific method rather than reading the manual first. Games today maybe a person’s only place to express a high-level of creativity and growth. Older generations have a lot of criticisms for games, the games can help a person learn to think on his or her own.

Steven Johnson’s book, Everything Bad Is Good For You, paints a modern picture of the way in which technology has affected us in a mostly positive way. Johnson has also written about neuroscience, computer technology, and media studies in his previous books. In his book Everything Bad Is Good For You, Johnson uses comparisons between two different eras of television to point out the varying complexities between the simple plotlines of older TV, and the highly complex plotlines of modern TV. For example, people can watch television dramas such as 24, which in comparison to older shows are many times more complicated and more difficult to understand. If the much less complicated show Hill Street Blues confused the developing TV audiences of

In conclusion, pop culture is not dumbing down society; it is, in fact, making society smarter. Malcolm Gladwell uses three different rhetorical appeals to prove this point. Gladwell proposes that playing a game can help a child’s mind more so than it would reading a book. Pop culture is given in many different forms, and can help a child use different parts of the brain.

The first part is about serious games, which are games that have a purpose other than for entertainment. The second part is called codification, which is when the exploration of a theme is shown in its representation. He believes that people that play games use these two parts to help them further their critical thinking skills. They are able to play the games for fun, but yet still learn from them even if they don’t realize it. The examples he gave for games that promote strengthening critical thinking skills were any first person video games that made an individual go through a campaign mode and have to strategize every move they make to make sure their next move doesn’t end up killing them. Some other games he made a reference to that helped younger kids were Monopoly and The Game of Life. These two games teach people what the real world is like and how you have to live in that world to be successful. It teaches you how to manage your money and invest it.

Video games are progressively becoming a crucial medium today, despite the light connotation of its initial categorization. Today they are a business that produces billions of dollars and employs engineers and artists alike in an art form connecting interactive games, to virtual societies where millions of people dwell. However, like all human products, our same emotion, flaws and injustice show in the games, with the impression of hatred, racism and stereotypes that are our everyday background. What are the creators of these video games real intentions in the desire they produce in the human?

According to the article “Be a Gamer, save the world” by Jane McGonigal, in the world, we are living in, games are able to be the main element in answering to the challenges of the real world. Although, there are some people who think that playing a game is the waste of time and make mind to not work normally. There are quite a lot of people in the world that they are spending a lot of money and time for playing video games. It doesn’t mean those people who are playing games don’t care about real life and they don’t have any work to do, but they have jobs, children, parents and they are students in schools. Also, they have other life responsibilities to care about. There are some great points in the games that are beneficial for players.

Though gaming has its drawbacks, it also has many benefits to cover them. If controlled, gaming is extremely useful and with the amount of gamers in the world today, it proves that it is not just for children or for teenagers. There are millions of adult gamers that understand the importance of gaming in the under the existing circumstances of the world. Individuals that have studied gamers believe that gaming in today’s

In the article, “Brain Candy,” by Malcolm Gladwell, he addresses the topic of pop culture using the resource, Steven Johnson of “Everything Bad Is Good for You.” He argues how with television plays a big role because it gives us the ability to connect and socialize with others. He then describes how video games are effective as well, despite the criticisms. He lastly assures the reason behind the criticisms because there is lack of book reading. According to Gladwell, there is no balance with having reading and homework for explicit learning, an effective submissive process. He greatly suggests the new pop culture, playing video games, is a source for collateral learning, having an active thought process. I agree with Gladwell that even though pop culture is believed to be dangerous for

They’re learning to learn.” (Gee, 399) Gee might be correct that there is potential to learn through video gaming, however, it is more the content of these games that should be held up to scrutiny. Specifically, the depth of violence and unrealistic virtual worlds involved in many of these games should indeed hold cause for concern. There are no long term studies to draw from telling us that video gaming is either a good or bad thing. But we do have common sense to draw from and we should consider what is known to date from both ends of the spectrum. The popular television show Dr. Phil recently aired an episode when a young man was so addicted to video gaming that it overtook his life. He no longer ate, showered or brushed his teeth and only slept when it physically overtook him. He mentally transformed himself into the video game, ignoring everything else. While this may be only one case, it should not be ignored. When considering the theories both Carr and Gee present, both essays are alarming and brings one not only to the conclusion that education is definitely in crisis in this country, but if were intending on video games to fill some kind of educational void, we are likely a country in

In Steven Johnson’s novel, Everything Bad is Good for You, Johnson makes the bold statement that today’s popular culture has increased our brain functions, and made our society more intelligent as a whole. He concludes that everything that has negative connotations in our society is actually beneficial to the expansion of our minds; mainly television, videogames, movies and the internet. His two main claims are “all the standards we use to measure reading’s cognitive benefits – attention, memory, following threads, and so on – the nonliterary popular culture has been steadily growing more challenging over the past thirty years.” and “the nonliterary popular culture is honing different mental skills that are just as important as the ones exercised

In “Everything Bad Is Good For You,” Steven Johnson discusses why and how he believes today’s popular culture is actually making us smarter, rather than dumbing us down. Johnson has his book split into two different parts, focusing mainly on the first part of his book, he talks about the ways people consume media and how it has become more complex and challenging over the years. The title headings for each sub-chapters are - Video Games, Television, Internet, and Movies. Within each subchapter he uses a vast number of examples from each section to support his argument. The biggest part the first chapter is dedicated to video games. Johnston suggests that when video games were first released that people thought they made us dumber and wasted our mind’s skills. He uses the example about how if video games had arrived before books, we would be more hesitant towards books. We would be looking at the negative aspects of book reading and how they are isolating, under-stimulating and do not engage enough. Stating that we use books to test cognitive benefits – attention, memory, focus and following threads, Johnston goes into a detail about how video games uses all these skills and more. He uses examples from Tetris, Pac-Man, SimCity200 and even The Legend of Zelda. Continuing his argument that video games engage us more that any other media our there at the moment, he acknowledges how to reward system and the desire to explore in video games keep us engaged. No other form of

The controversial topic of video game addiction is what I have decided to focus my multi-genre research project on. Although a multitude of people do not even know of the existence of such a problem in today's society, I can assure you that this is becoming an increasingly greater problem effecting people around the world of all ages. Through my multi-genre project, I intend on proving the uselessness and detrimental qualities of playing video games, and I am going to explore some healthy alternatives to such a problematic habit.

All that is required is just skillfully managing the keyboard. Computer life is so exciting, that sometimes people are not concerned so much on events that occur in reality, as on what is happening in the virtual world. Where, by passing different levels and achieving any success, player feels how great and powerful he is. With each passing day, the video game industry progresses, giving us the better opportunity to fully enjoy the scene. The purpose of this essay is to prove that video games bring more harm than benefits to children. Firstly in this essay, negative effects will be considered, after that it will review benefits of video games, and finally give recommendations to parents, how not to allow games to negatively influence their children.