No, Really. Why Study Pop Culture?

No, Really. Why Study Pop Culture?

So, here we are taking this course titled Pop Culture Messages. To be honest, I wasn't entirely sure what this course was going to look like or be about. I got the gist of what pop culture is, but why study it, really?

They say pop culture influences us, like, a lot. You know, in everyday life we see it "everywhere"; on the news, in the media, in advertisements, in the shows and movies we hate, love to hate, or can't get enough of. Even the boring ones, they still influence us.

The reason pop culture gets such special attention is because, not only is it everywhere and it does influence us, it's classified as the popular beliefs we hold about popular cultural artifacts. These artifacts can be things like products, electronics, ethics and morals, habits, common observations we share, and so on. Simply put, pop culture plays a key role in shaping us both individually and sociologically, so, why wouldn't we study it? 

Its reach, along with culture in general, has an influence that extends farther. For example, the concept of social connectedness is widely accepted as the extent to which someone has meaningful, close, and constructive relationships with others. The CDC evaluates social connectedness as being important to our survival, no kidding, and the CDC is not the only group that shares this view. 

So, how does pop culture connect, correlate, or influence our sense of social connectedness? I feel an obvious reference here would be to Facebook or social media.

When we post something, comment, or even consume others' content do we ever evaluate our social connectedness, be it consciously or subconsciously?  An example would be, if I post a response to a trending issue and no one reads it, comments on it, or likes/responds to it, do I feel the care and support I need from my peers regarding my contribution? 

 

For a lot of us, the answer may be instantaneously a "no". For some, it may depend on what's being discussed or what the post is about. Others may dismiss the need to feel support on social media altogether as "unnecessary validation". 

Chuck Klosterman references Harry Potter as a pop culture phenomena, one he has absolutely no interest in familiarizing himself with and only a mild curiosity, if any, invested.

I think Facebook and social media in general can inarguably be labeled as pop culture phenomena. So, whether you are on it, seemingly constantly, like the rest of society, have accounts you rarely use (like me), or avoid it all together, social media is a pop culture artifact that has influenced and will continue to influence our society in ways we could not previously have imagined.

Now, I'd like to know what category you guys fall into on social media and why you think that is?

1. I use it "seemingly constantly".
2. I use it "rarely, if ever".
3. I don't have an account.

For me, I have accounts and rarely, if ever, use them. The amount of time I feel it takes to participate in social media could be better spent on other things. I'm not at a point in my life where I earn monetarily from social media, though I would like to. On the other hand, I feel like my choice not to socialize in that space doesn't match a perceived responsibility to do so by my peers and family members.

What I mean is friends and family may, at times, view my lack of social media interaction as an equal to shunning theirs. Even if this view is more subconscious than conscious, or has never occurred, it's still a label I feel that I fall into once-in-a-while.

Raymond Williams says culture nourishes and sustains those who live within it, and asserts that we need it more than food. If culture, then, is the interconnection of pop culture artifacts (social media being a whole melting pot of pop culture artifacts, in and of itself), and social connectedness is important to survival then maybe we should study it?

 

I think if political science, sociology, and psychology morphed into a Power Ranger it would be Pop Culture. Ha, see what I did there?