Steven Johnson The Sleeping Curve Summary

Steven Johnson, believes that popular culture is making us imperceptibly but tenacious and a little smarter every day, also that trend, demonstrated by the "tests" of intelligence. Johnson calls it “the sleeping curve” where he assumes that mass culture is increasing in complexity gradually because of interrelated factors: natural appetites of the brain, the economic system of the cultural development, the cultural industry, and evolving technological platforms.

Steven Johnson argues that popular culture today is more complex and challenging than ever and requires us to cognitive tasks that we never had been pushed so far all the classical and popular culture like in this time. His arguments are simple and they go against the opinion of most

people. About this topic. Because he is convinced that the culture of the mases has to change and accept this way of culture, and insist on consuming series of Television and shows, commercial films, video games, and of course the internet.

This is not going to makes us dumber as they used to think like in the past people believe. On the contrary this is culture, the new culture, since the brain is increasingly complex, and requires a different media infrastructure to sustain the extensive development of our times, he called to this effect the sleeping curve. And is gradually increasing in complexity because of interrelated factors; to natural appetites of the brain, the system of the cultural industry and the evolving technology platforms, and throughout the book is giving arguments and examples that confirm his thesis, some more successes and other profiled sometimes just relying on third-party studies and other comparisons and analysis of the different products of popular culture. Thus in the world of the series of television, he analyze this complexity

on a few series of TV and cartoons. He is an advocate of this so-called reality shows, defending those garbage programs like the “Big Brother” and Survivor” with strong and convincing arguments; arguing that it is not a matter of devouring them for hours until we melt our brain, that this is just necessary to find the right balance, mixing them with other content and consume them in densifications, that the function of those products are just made for our entertainment.
Television and other media play a major role in adolescent socialization and identity development by providing perspectives, values, ideologies, and behavior models” (Sarah M.

2013. P125) media is shaping today's youth no just with violence, gender stereotyping, and sexual promiscuities, and this becomes difficult to interpret what is the true influence of media.

A few years ago Johnson explains that the television were too easy to understand and predictable. All the programs were focused on just one storyline, but actually all new series and programs on the television are more complex, cognitive and more demanding, now the protagonist of the shows on television have a constant change, and they have more storylines, and this change has occurred because the audience has become more critical.

TV now serves us to think, to analyze what kind of thinking must be exerted to make sense of a cultural experience. That the television has put more pressure on our cognitive abilities; the complexity has grown by three elements, multiple accounts, multiple accusations, and social networks.

Then he also includes video games and how they have had a bigger and greater evolution, because the video gamers are now being challenged to make a greater effort due to the lack of instructions and the new structure of

them,
were in a need to improve by all participants of the games to make a greater effort since in the new structure of video games and the absence of instructions promotes cognitive ability of individuals involved in video games, since the player has now to decide things quickly and on the moment, using the rules of the game, but looking for hidden patterns in them. The fundamental activity of the player is to take some immediate short-term decisions and other long-term strategic "These decisions are based on two types of intellectual efforts that are key to the collateral learning games. The call probe and telescope" the probe includes exploration, the search for the game and even hidden patterns probe the limits of physics of the game; telescope has to do with perceiving relationships and determine priorities. The player also has to find relationships in the game and of course has to prioritize actions if they want to win the game and pass the level, today video-games require us to make decisions much more than books, movies or music which can evokes intense emotions, but games are urging us to decide, to choose, to prioritize. We can learn to make and take the right decisions; weighing the data, analyze situations, taking into account the long-term goals, and ultimately decide. No other popular cultural form directly involves the cerebral apparatus decision in the same way. Jonson also fights against the prejudices over the videogames and the other manifestations of popular culture, like all the media communications, including the internet, as a popular form and more fun to be smart and intelligent, and with his reflex ions make us to re-think our opinions about the Media communications.
Question # 4
I’m not agree with the author of this book. First the influence of the media on us can shape the type of person for some individuals, filling them with corrupted ideas or false sense of reality, “In order to understand the empirical research implicating violence in electronic media as a threat to society, an understanding of why and how violent media cause aggression is vital. In fact, psychological theories that explain why media violence is such a threat are now well established. Furthermore, these theories also explain why the observation of violence in the real world – among the family, among peers, and within the community – also stimulates aggressive behavior in the observer”. (Huesmann, L. R. 2007p.3). The influence of television on our society, and how shows of television manipulates, influence even de-desensitize people. The adolescent mental world is malleable, impressionable and susceptible to changes requiring a significant emotional and educational support the environment, especially the family and society in general. If during any period of maturation of these elements fails, facilitated shall others may be negative outside influences.