Last night I finished reading Everything Bad Is Good For You, a book given to me as a Christmas present by my oldest brother. Yes, I know, at 256 pages and with large letters it should not take an educated adult this long to finish such a book but I am one of those people who reads before bed and boy, did this one help me go to sleep in a hurry. You see, this is the kind of book that you would quote on a university paper if you were studying the role of the modern media in our culture.

 

The premise is simple: despite popular belief, video games, television and the Internet are not necessarily signs of social decay but rather a reflection of a more sophisticated audience. Example number one: video games are more complicated than they have ever been and therefore require better problem solving skills from their players. Example number two: compared to shows like The Dukes Of Hazard, something like 24 and The Sopranos contain many more plot-lines and characters that modern audiences delight in trying to follow. Example number three: the popularity of the Internet means that more people are reading and writing  more than ever before.

 

By the end of the book I got the point: it’s not going to make me blind after all! No, that’s not it. The couch sociologists were wrong. Just because we watch ‘reality’ TV, play Grand Theft Auto and spend hours on the Internet does not mean we are stupid. Those unwilling to join in the fun are more likely to be unable, due to their lack of sophistication inherent in anyone who grew up watching the Simpsons or Seinfeld. I pity the fools.

 

How can I review a book like this without writing one thousand words with references, submitted by the first Monday of next month? I can’t do that but I can say that it was written with the casual reader in mind, so the arguments and examples given are easy to understand. As a video game player who has watched most Seinfeld episodes and spends too much time on the Internet I can say that Everything Bad Is Good For You made me feel good about myself in a way that Anthony Robbins never could. You see there is value in our modern culture after all and we are it.