Steven Johnson's "Everything Bad is Good For You"

I watched an interview with Steven Johnson on PBS last night. His book sounds pretty interesting, although his main point is nothing surprising. He says that the common view that modern media is dumbing us down is not supported by the research. While there certainly is a preponderance of lowest common denominator-type programming out there, by looking at the kinds of media people consume nowadays, it's clear that we are in some ways becoming much smarter than we were years ago. Think of the complexity of modern video games, or the intracacies of today's TV dramas.

Johnson talks of a type of intelligence, "fluid intelligence" (which is related to pattern recognition) that is required for much of today's fast-paced media. He says it is a mistake to assume that the fact that kids read less today and watch more TV and play more video games is making them less intelligent, in fact it may be the opposite. I've long felt this to be true, based on my own experience as a child of the electronic age. While I may read less than my parents, I'm certainly better equipped to deal with new technologies.

To me, this confirms what I've long thought about the effect of modern media, and the internet in particular. McLuhan's said, "the affairs of the world are now dependent upon the highest information of which man is capable. The word information means pattern, not raw data." The stresses caused by the accelerating changes in our media environment can only be managed by an equally dramatic shift in our abilities as human beings. And as Steven Johnson notes, we are now seeing that shift, through changes in the way we think, solve problems, and recognize patterns in an ever more complex world.