hw 14

In the book Everything Bad is Good For You, Steven Johnson claims that the things that we originally thought was bad for us like video games and television may actually good. He argues that the structure of video games is done in such a way that the reward systems are clear and that it is not mindless escapism as gamers would mull over a way to solve a problem or situation presented in the video game. Players are put in situations where they need to evaluate multiple courses to take and find the best one. He further argues people do not really know what video games are like through second hand descriptions and have to play for themselves to see how challenging a game could actually be. Video games stimulate our brains in a way that produces higher dopamine levels and activates the reward center in our brain unlike any other form of entertainment. It exercises a different set of mental skills that are just as the ones we use in reading important. Thus, this reinforces his arguments that we need to re-evaluate the "form" of video games, rather than the content because there is an implication that something more complex is involved. He argues that the beneficial elements of video games arise from their format and the way they make us think rather than what the game is about in terms of story or plot.

The same is true for television and Stevens emphasizes their interactive nature where we are at times required to make sense of plot and character development. He acknowledges that it is less interactive than video games but due to the sleeper curve, stories have become more and more complex, with several plots layering and connecting together alternating different points of view. There are less and less “flashing arrows” directing viewers on the story. It leaves some things out for the view to try to figure out. The lack of handholding in present dramas as compared to past ones is visible down to the dialogue and expressions of the characters. The chapter is best summarized by this sentence in the chapter, “Pop TV More Subtle and Discrete Than Ever Before!"

My reaction to this book was mostly good because I feel like a different point of view on the use of electronics would be a good balance for our class book Feed. Something that may be faulty is that the sleeper curve is based on the assumption that people in the past generation were only ready for hand holding and since then people have grown due to the sleeper curve to be able to handle this level of television. Maybe people been at that level all along but the society and times were at a point were that kind of television was still being developed and people were testing and developing the medium of television story telling and it had to start simple to get where it is today. There has been more complex movies or television shows available in the past but overall I tend to agree that shows today require more from the viewer, there are grey areas, less hand-holding, layered jokes, and less information told and more information required. With video games the way people play requires a fast analysis of the situation and what they need to do to win. This probably requires for the brain to work a bit more than it has previously for the same medium.


At the most fundamental level, Everything Bad is Good For You argues very different things about technology--Everything Bad is Good For You argues it makes us smarter, while Feed is argues that the technology made the people dumber. Feed says that things have become simpler and simpler because the people are getting used to more simple things and its cyclic, while Everything Bad for You is Good argues it does the opposite, things are becoming more complex and evolving because of the technology. They do talk about different aspects of technology. Feed focuses on consumerism and corporation's attempt to advertise and sell to the general populace. This book doesn't contradict that part of feed, it is supporting consumerism culture by saying video games and television (which are propped with advertisements) is good. It also says because of the technology people don't think much anymore which is this book contradicts. It is analyzing the effect of how technology effects the way people think instead of how advertisment and consumerist culture affects it. Feed talks about how bombarded people are by adverstisements and buying things through the medium of technology. Everything Bad for You is Good focuses on the ways technology has since then developed in a way that demands more from the person using it by getting them involved and exercises their brains as a result. This book is focused on the way technology itself is affecting us, not the way media or advertisement is through technology.