Everything Bad is Good for You

This was another book for my social software class. The subtitle is How Today's Popular Culture is Actually Making Us Smarter. Basically, the author argues that video/computer games, the Internet, TV and movies are not just feeding stupidity to the masses. Instead, they have important upsides including developing our logic and problem-solving skills.

Here's the thing: There are still only 24 hours in every day. When you add in all the things you "should" get done during the day--sleeping, eating, working, reading and what ever else you have going on in your life, the question remains--how much time do you really have left over for popular culture? I have a few hours a week. And, quite frankly, if I'm being fed stupidity during that time or intellectualism I really don't care. I just want to enjoy myself.

I think this is one of those books that while I'm not convinced about everything the author has to say, the arguments were interesting and it was a good exercise to think through how quickly we dismiss popular media as "bad". An easy read for nonfiction and certainly very relevant.