Call me crazy, but I believe it.

Shannon Mills

Mr. Boczskowski

English 110C01

8 June 2009

English Final

Steven Johnson, author of Everything Bad is Good for You, believes that today’s mediums such as; television, movies, internet, and video games are actually making us smarter. Johnson gives a theory he calls The Sleeper Curve, and talks about how each medium’s way of making us smarter. After reading Johnson’s book, I have come to the conclusion that I believe The Sleeper Curve is real but is something we actually don’t know is happening unless told so, like Johnson has.

Johnson talks about each mediums way of making us smarter. Video games are more complex then they have ever been. Coming up from a classic game like Pac-Man to a game like Call of Duty, you will realize the complexity of games today. Johnson metions two things that are making us smarter while playing video games, probing is when you first play a game and you are learning what each button does and what happens when you do certain things. Another thing he mentions is telescoping, telescoping is your goal as a whole, finding the rewards that give you the motivation to go and complete a hard level. “One of the best ways to grasp the congitive virtures of gameplaying is to ask committed players to descrive what’s going on in their heads halfway through a long virtual adventure like Zelda or Half Life” (Johnson, 47) People who are committed to playing games more often than none, have the experience and knowledge of video games, thus giving the player skills that he may not know he/she even has.

Television and movies have come a long way in today’s era. We now have more complex shows on television with shows like House. Johnson mentions multithreading, which is how many things are going on at once between different characters. If you watch a show from a later episode and then watch if from there on out, you could find yourself lost. Social networking is another example of television making us smarter. Social networking is relationships between characters. You need to know certain things to understand what is going on. Shows like House can have plenty of different relationships to understand.

Internet has become today’s biggest resource. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t use the internet. You can find anything and do anyything on the internet. If you miss an episode of House, you can find your self on the internet looking up certain episodes and reviewing what happen or even watching it online. This keeps us caught up and gives us a chance to see our if we missed it.

I believe all of these mediums are actually making us smarter in one way or another. Johnson makes great points and are very believble. I think one reason I believe this theory of The Sleeper Curve is because I am growing up in an era of great technology, I don’t want to think that today’s mediums are making us dumb.

Eh Johnson

Over the last couple of months, three days of every week, I learned a little more about Johnsons’ Sleeper Curve. Johnsons book “Everything Bad is Good For You” circulates around the idea of Sleeper Curve, which he tells us is the growth of complexity in pop culture and increase of intelligence in the last thirty years. It is because of this increase of complexity and difficulty in comprehension of pop culture that makes us as viewers practice critical thinking almost constantly of every day, causing this wave of intelligence in our generation.

Though there are many ways to argue this, I have to agree with Johnson. One might say that pop culture has no effect on ones literary intelligence, but then again this generation is constantly on the computer reading and taking in information. We may not know while reading blog posts and articles we are learning good grammar and vocabulary but we are unconsciously.

Johnson hits on different forms of media such as video games, internet, television, and film. All of which in some form or another have been advanced and are causing us to think. Video games involve a lot more problem solving, while internet websites almost need to come with a hand book for those who are new to them. Television and film now have more than one story line or multiple plots. Things like this is what keeps us hooked on watching, if we were to present the more simple shows from forty years, ago no one be interested because the lack of thinking needed to watch it. People love to guess who the crazed psycho killer is in a horror film or who is going to end up with the girl in the end of a romance flick. These are now things that we strive for in our pop culture, being more involved.

Johnsons term Sleeper Curve, to me, stands. I don’t see anything wrong in his concepts or ties to pop culture. This unconscious way of learning can easily be proved the best. It’s easier to learn when you don’t know you’re learning. It is not pressured, but it’s there and easily accessible. I’m grateful for the knowledge that I’ve come to realize I am effortlessly taken in everyday through mass media. My eyes have been opened through his ideas and it’s awesome.

"Sleeper Curve," like a hibernating bear

In the book Everything Bad is Good for You, author Steven Johnson puts forth the argument that popular media, the so called evil in our society, is actually making us, the common viewers, smarter; thus in turn making sense out of the title of the book. He calls this trend “Sleeper Curve,” names it “after the classic sequence from Woody Allen’s mock sci-fi film, where a team of scientists… are astounded that failed to grasp the nutritional value of cream pies and hot fudge.” (Johnson xvi)

In the book Johnson puts forth several arguments supporting his “Sleeper Curve Theory.” He produces the ideas of “flashing arrows,” multiple threading and “repeatability.” Now he tells of how ”flashing arrows” are less common now days in movies because we have the capability of following complex story lines so we don’t need to have the obvious pointed out in big flashy ways. I full agree with him on this idea. In watching modern shows on TV the “flashing arrows” have gone out the window. The writers throw twists and turns at viewers faster than a pitcher can throw a base ball. The reason is because of our attention spans; if we watch shows that spell everything out for use we loose interest and then show looses viewers.

I agree with him on the other two arguing points as well. I think the complexity of the multiple threads ads interest to our minds. Also it’s a good stimulating mental work out; the process of trying to remember the complex story plots of shows, like soap operas, causes you to dig deep into your brain. Then repeatability this is the area I agree the most on with Johnson. He states, “already, any given episode of a successful television show will be seen by more people in syndication than it will during its first run on network TV.” (Johnson 160) Johnson is saying that more people go back and look at old TV shows not on primetime TV, but on DVDs or in reruns. He also explains that writers are adding in hidden secrets “that reward great scrutiny,” or in better words could use a couple of viewing to be seen and fully understood. (Johnson 160) This to me is totally true I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watch episodes of Futurama, Family Guy, and South Park. When I watch them I see something I never have seen before; like in a South Park episode every time they talk about a kid’s age they change it by a year, or how in Family Guy in one scene Peters head shrinks for no reason. This also causes you to use your noodle to do some intense studying or viewing of the episode in hopes of coming across a hidden treasure you’ve never seen.

So to me I think Johnson hits the nail on the head with his book. Now I might be a little bias because I am an avid television watcher, but to me I think we are expanding our knowledge in ways never before seen through the use and viewing of media. Were up to date on events, were always actively viewing the episodes in order to keep up with the happenings on the screen. Media has gotten so complex you have to have half a mind in order to stay in with the times.

Sleeper Curve( responds)

What do I think about Steven Johnson “Everything bad is good for you”, The Sleeper Curve. What I think is that the Sleeper Curve, it makes you think about what is truly going on in the world today. How this one guy say something that the rest of the world thinks different. What Johnson is saying that what the rest of the world might think is bad for us but it is also making us smarter. All the media that Johnson cites in the book “Everything bad is good for you” like television: “For someone loosely following the debates over the medium’s cultural impact, the idea that television is actually improving our minds will sound like apostasy” (Johnson 62). When I watch TV I actually feel that I am getting smarter because what I learn on TV helps me out in the real world. Some people might think that when young people watch TV is draining their brains but it is making them smarter. Johnson talks about other things in the Sleeper Curve; Games, Internet, Films and all these are somehow making today society smarter.
With all the media that Johnson mention in his book is just another way of making us smarter without having to go to school. What he talks about in his book is just another form of media to me because it is just teaching us something that the rest of the world would not have taught us. Johnson came all just in time for me to get this think about Twitter is making me smarter every time I get on there. But at the same time, every time I get in front of the computer screen on the internet just browsing is shrinking my brain.
Johnson states: “if the Sleeper Curve turns the conventional wisdom about mass culture on its head, it does something comparable to our own heads” (Johnson179-180). Okay what he means about this is that since we as a whole us the internet to do mostly are lives on what if I was not around what would we do without it. We would go back to using books back in the old days, and we would not have all these source as we have today to help us out with are daily life.

The Sleeper Curve is awake past it's bedtime

TV is making us smarter, so says Steven Johnson who lays down the foundations of proof for intelligent television in his book Everything Bad Is Good For You. Johnson is arguing that popular media such as videogames, television, and the internet are becoming more complex with time because as we watch and participate in these media we become smarter. Johnson thinks that watching television with complex intersecting plotlines and characters is teaching us to be better at reading emotional cues of our social groups in real life. He attributes the rise of IQ scores to problem solving skills needed to play videogames and multiple threading involved in television viewing. “Where pure problem solving is concerned, we’re getting smarter” (144).

So this is the landscape of the Sleeper Curve. Games that force us to probe and telescope. Television shows that require the mind to fill in the blanks, or exercise its emotional intelligence. Software that makes us sit forward, not lean back. But if the long term trend in pop culture is towards increased complexity, is there any evidence that our brains are reflecting that change? If mass media is supplying an increasingly rigorous mental workout, is there any empirical data that shows our cognitive muscles growing in response? In a word: yes (Johnson 136).

We are a nation of over stimulated people. Everywhere we go we are drowning in media. Johnson is saying that this media increasing in complexity using the concepts of multiple threading, probing, and telescoping to measure, and prove how smart we are becoming. He points to rising IQ scores and tries to draw a direct correlation between shows like the Sopranos and this increase in intelligence. What about the content of the internet and rising technology in the class room as a possible explanation for our Nations rising IQ scores. Also consider that illiteracy was common until the civil rights movement had a chance to function and ensure education for peoples of all colors and races. Testing is also becoming more common part of a child’s educational experience. Consider, funding for schools is often dependant on these scores so we are becoming more accustom to the process of testing as a whole and therefore more likes to do better than a different generation.

We are just bored and television is pushing the envelope to keep us from doing something drastic, like reading a book. And let’s face it that’s not where the money in today’s society is. There are no superstar authors selling diet coke during the super bowl. The Sleeper Curve overlooks major changes in our society and our culture. There are many issues and multifaceted opinions of each one floating around. Gay rights, abortion, war, economy. Google, Wikipedia, MySpace. Television and other forms of media are becoming more complex because we are, true. However Johnson is not seeing the big picture when he attempts to break down each form of media separately and point to cause and effect. Because of the 21^st century breakthrough in the easy access of information and ideas media complexity is no longer quantifiable. You really can Google anything and everything. Television, videogames, and other media must introduce us to new and twisted plots and content on a weekly basis. How else do you keep people stimulated who live the notion of instant knowledge within a dozen keystrokes?

Stating the Obvious- It's Not All Bad

It is a popular, to say in the least, belief that the media, in the forms of TV, video games and the internet, is slowly devouring our souls. We are supposedly becoming mindless zombies in the wake of the media’s destruction, slowly being victimized by Spongebob’s stupidity; all of us as members of a Hell that we are in control of.

However widespread this idea is, there are those that have risen against these beliefs. The sleeper curve is described by Steven Johnson, the author of Everything Bad Is Good For You, as being different mediums, like video games and television, that are actually healthy for the human brain to consume (Johnson 9). This sleeper curve idea holds true in many different cases. Recent television shows require much thinking on the viewer’s part.

Johnson mentions the show 24 as a good example of a show that is complicated enough that viewers must think twice about some things (Johnson 109). He uses 24 when he talks about social networks, also known as character mapping. Character mapping is how characters interact with each other, and who they interact with (Johnson 107). The character mapping of recent years, especially 24, is much more complicated than the maps of Dallas (Johnson 110). The constant interaction between characters forces viewers to think, putting characters together with other characters like pieces of a puzzle, and therefore stimulating our brains intellectually.

For video games, Johnson mentions probing; probing is when the person playing the game has to explore their environment, hoping to figure out what their next step is or a clue as what to do in the first place (Johnson 45). The steps for probing are probing, then the player making a hypothesis about what to do next; the player reprobes with the hypothesis, and then rethinks their original hypothesis (Johnson 45). This also causes the player’s brain to tick, having to figure things out on their own instead of the answers to their questions being handed to them on a silver platter. Johnson has taken the obvious and written it down in a book: ask any random person to play a level of Final Fantasy and then ask them if it was difficult. They will tell you yes, unless they are a genius. Any regular person would struggle with a level they have never seen before, especially if they have never interacted with a game like those from the Final Fantasy series. Games are difficult and do make us think.

Johnson has hypothesized that even though our culture has more than a daily doses’ worth of media on a regular basis, we are not losing intelligence because of that. Johnson has put into simple words what most people are slowly realizing: the media with interact with regularly has evolved into something much more difficult than what it was to begin with.

Johnson, Steven. Everything Bad Is Good For You. England: Penguin Books, 2006.

My Mama was Wrong!!!

As a kid the media was always enjoyed, I cannot think of one time that I was using some type of new technology and did not have fun with it; well maybe except from school. Though that idea was frowned upon by adults because they believe that these types of media were doing nothing for us and were not making us smarter, but simply a waste of time.

When I read Steven Johnson I first could not believe that someone was actually saying these types of things, sure a kid of course but one would expect this from them. Johnson’s book struck me at first glance as a bunch of myths because of what I have been taught as I grew up that. (the media well never help us because it does not challenge the mind. Johnson’s book is the complete opposite of that he argues that these things are actually making us smarter. His idea of the sleeper curve is that new technology as well the media are challenging our minds and improving our intelligence.

I myself enjoyed Johnson’s book the book. As I stated in class that I am not a big fan of reading so for me to read a book and actually enjoyed really shocked me. I believe that one real big reason why I enjoyed this book so much is because it has sooth a childhood myth that has really grinded my gears for so long. I think every child as they were growing up wants to believe that things such as the internet, television, and video games are going to help them become successful or happy as they get older, and Johnson helps us to believe that idea.

When I was reading Johnson’s book he introduces this new idea of electric speed (p 176) which basically states that we our intelligence of technology based on older technology. I feel this is the most influential part of the because I felt as if this part was written for me, because a lot of how I succeed in my everyday life now is by what happened in the past and learning from it and electric speed is the same way is no different.

Johnson’s book was interesting it help put a childhood pet peeve to rest. I did not expect to learn as much as I did from the book because of what I was taught as a child. Because of this book I wonder if my life would have been different if I had used technology as much as I wanted. So was my mom wrong for telling me to put down the remote and pick up a book.

FIFA 09: A Buffet of Awesomeness

I think that Steven Johnson is about 100% correct in his sleeper curve hypothesis. The sleeper curve is saying that as it may look as though today’s popular culture is making people dumber; it is in fact making people smarter. I think that people say this because people about 18 and under have become more secluded to the comfort of their homes instead of being outside playing. In today’s times, we are surrounded by technology 24/7 that helps us with just about everything. With this technology, more things are being available right in the comfort of our homes. The major contributors of this happening is watching television and playing video games. Watching television and movies may seem like forms of entertainment, but does actually educate the viewers without them know. With the extinction of flashing arrows and the increase in multiple threads, movies and television have become complex making the viewer think more and more. A perfect example of this would be the television show, Lost. Video games have had a big impact on today’s culture too. This was the biggest surprise for me. Video games have always been a big part of my life. I play for both entertainment and competitive playing for whenever I need to put some of my friends in their place. The game that I have been blessed with this past quarter was FIFA 09. Sports games may not seem like the perfect example of what Steven Johnson has to say, this game offers just about everything he talks about on a silver platter. It has good examples of probing and telescoping in it. FIFA 09 brings the player closer to the soccer field than ever before. The strategizing for each game is a great example of probing and winning “trophies” (Playstation’s form of achievements) is a great example of telescoping. Plus the other modes of playing, this game offers the player a buffet of playing soccer that not only entertains you, but also get your mind to think.

The Pieces of the Sleeper Curve

Steven Johnson believes that everything in that media such as, video games, television, film, and the internet, that we are taught that is bad for us, is actually making us smarter. He wrote a book called, “Everything Bad Is Good for You” that explains his theory on the fact that everything bad might really be good for you. He goes through each section and gives many examples for why each one is good for you rather than bad. He brings all of his examples to a thing called “The Sleeper Curve.”

His argument for video games versus reading a book is: “Reading books chronically inderstimulates the senses. Unlike the longstanding tradition of gameplaying-which engages the child in a vivid, three-dimensional world filled with moving images and musical soundscapes, navigated and controlled with complex muscular movements” (pg.19). Johnson goes on to talk about probing and telescoping and how each person playing the game has to figure out where to go, what to do, and what the next thing after that is to do.

Johnson says that in television and film, “popular television shows-and to a slightly lesser extent, popular films-have also increased the cognitive work they demand from their audience, exercising the mind in ways that would have been unheard of thirty years ago” (pg.62). Johnson goes on to talk about the reasons why for the newer shows being more complex; the use of multiple threading; where now the shows have so many different things going on in one episode; character maps and social networks; Johnson gives an example of, “Black Market Baby, the primary structure of the narrative is a double plot: the competition between the two brothers to have a baby and give the family patriarch a long-overdue grandchild” (pg.110). A lot of newer shows are now having so many more plots in just one episode. Also he gives the example of the disappearance of flashing arrows. Now, it is not easy for us to see what is coming next in the show or film.

Johnsons next “crucial piece in the puzzle of the Sleeper Curve” (pg.116) is the internet. He says, “Not just because the online world offers resources that help sustain more complex programming in other media, but because the process of acclimating to the new reality of networked communications has had a salutary effect on our minds” (pg.116).

The thought of someone finally telling people that video games, television, film, and the internet are actually making us smarter could definitely cause some dispute. Obviously being a teenager, where the internet and television is what I do in my spare time, I love to finally hear that it is actually making me smarter. I agree with what Johnson is saying. He is not meaning to say that reading isn’t making us smarter, but he is saying that all the other “pieces” are too. He says, “But I want to be clear about one thing: The Sleeper Curve does not mean that Survivor will someday be viewed as our Heart of Darkness, or Finding Nemo our Moby Dick. The conventional wisdom the Sleeper Curve undermines is not the premise that mass culture pales in comparison with High Art in its aesthetic and intellectual riches” (pg.132).

Everything Bad Really IS Good For You

Omar Mustafa

Mr. Boczkowski

English 110c01

June 8, 2009

Everything Bad Really Is Good For You

Throughout Steven Johnson’s masterfully written book, Everything Bad Is Good For You, he presents several arguments about television, the Internet, and video games that support the notion that all three are actually making us continually smarter. Although the popular modern belief is that pop culture is making us dumber, Johnson argues the opposite. I agree with Johnson in all aspects of his arguments that come together to form the overall notion of The Sleeper Curve.

Johnson describes The Sleeper Curve as “a kind of positive brainwashing: the popular media steadily, but almost imperceptibly, making our minds sharper, as we soak in entertainment usually dismissed as so much lowbrow fluff  (Johnson XVI).” In other words, the mediums of entertainment that are generally seen as negative to one’s development are actually making us better thinkers, and therefore making us smarter. Although the basic premise of The Sleeper Curve proves to be true, the three types of media are not supported by an equal amount of citation.

In video games, Johnson discusses notions to support The Sleeper Curve that include telescoping, probing, and a therapeutic reward system. Telescoping, which Johnson describes as the separation of objectives into a hierarchy of importance, constantly forces the individual to be prepared to receive new information and independently place them in a scale of importance. Probing, which Johnson describes as when the individual observes their current environment, creates a hypothesis, and tests the hypothesis, is forcing the individual to constantly be thinking and improving their knowledge base based on the changing video game. Finally, the therapeutic reward system of video games is pointed out to release endorphins in the brain that allow for people to feel a sense of happiness and accomplishment. These three prongs that make up Johnson’s Sleeper Curve argument have been cited more than enough to prove its truth in video games.

Television also proves to be proficiently cited in Johnson’s Sleeper Curve argument. Johnson presents the notions of multi-threading and flashing arrows and how these are constantly making people smarter. Multi-threading, as Johnson describes, is when there are multiple storylines being carried out and executed simultaneously. This forces the individual to keep in mind that there are different characters, settings, and scenarios all being put into multiple different storylines at the same time. Johnson describes flashing arrows, as hints in a television show as referring to another point or topic subtly. These lead the viewer into making connections that may usually be difficult to view. This forces the viewer to be constantly aware of small subtle hints that may be invisible to the naked eye. Television is property cited by Johnson to be argued as beneficial to our thinking and intellect.

Although the Internet is proven by Johnson to fit into The Sleeper Curve, it lacks the proficient amount of citation that both video games and television posses. Johnson argues that the Internet has proven to be beneficial to us as times pass because of the sharing of the mass amount of knowledge and writing so easily available. Although this is proven to be true because you can find books, magazines, maps, or any other written word online, the Internet lacks multiple support examples from Johnson. He seems to stop abruptly when arguing that the Internet is making us smarter as opposed to how much citation video games and television had.

Steven Johnson’s argument of The Sleeper Curve has proven to be true in all three medias. Although each one may not be cited by an equal amount of examples and thought, they have all been first hand experienced to be beneficial to me. Johnson’s argument that the three medias of the Internet, video games, and television is making pop culture continually more intelligent and smarter has enlightened me to understand specifically how each one of these can be most efficiently beneficial to the individual.

Works Cited

Johnson, Steven. “Everything Bad Is Good For You: How Today’s Popular Culture is Actually

Making Us Smarter.” New York: The Berkley Publishing Group, 2005, 2005. Foreword.