"Pop" Culture

I was recently sitting in the car waiting for my father to return from the market when, on Sirius Satellite Radio, I heard a special report of some prof. (who's name I can't quite recall) who says that the pop culture of our days is actually good for young people. Video games have been thought to "Ruin your mind" but actually are very good. Not only do they increase hand eye coordination drastically, they also involve much thinking. They help exercise the problem solving part of our mind while giving us something to do. Also, kids of this generation are able to multi task like there parents never would have thought possible when they were youths. For example, a kid may be sitting at a desk playing a game on his computer, with the TV on in the background, maybe listening to some music, and chatting with his/her friends on an instant messenger, and still be able to pick up information from all of these stimuli.

When my father returned to the car I told him about this new theory. He proceeded to ask me how a game like GTA would help you get smarter. The fact of the matter is that this game would make you think even harder and even help you develop some common sense. The reason is that instead of playing a futuristic alien game like Halo, this game actually seems real. It makes you think what you would do in that situation. Though I will admit that this game may be a bad influence on the more ignorant kids who simply follow the concept of "Monkey See, Monkey Do." But seriously, what kid would ever be stupid enough to go outside, carjack some guy in a banshee convertible, go to Ammu-nation, buy a machine gun, and go on a never ending rampage, thinking that they can just type in the cheat code for full health and get a new lease on life?

In closing I do agree with this Prof.'s argument and will probably go play some killing game right now. Later.