Pop culture influencers are everywhere nowadays, whether on television, your car radio, trending on Twitter, the pages of your grandmother’s favorite novel, or even at the local art exhibit. You can find someone’s work on anything, anywhere from all decades leading up until now.
In the 1990’s, bands like Green Day took the music industry by storm with their lyrics about rebelling against societal issues. Or you might recall the early 2000’s, when author J.K. Rowling released the last book of her New York Times bestseller Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, finally bringing the series to an end. Maybe you remember the 2010’s when neon and sequins could be seen on almost every piece of clothing worn by teens.
To put it in a simple form, pop culture is a variety of art, literature, film, dance, fashion, television, and radio transmitted via the mass media and aimed particularly at younger people.
Now this may sound scary to you, which is completely normal, as it is common to view this generation’s pop culture this way. Maybe you feel this way because you’ve been told of the horrible thing’s media can do, that it’s corrupt and brainwashing everyone. This is a negative thing that certain media outlets can do to manipulate people without them realizing.
In today’s world, mental health has become one of the main focuses of our society’s adolescents. According to CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, mental illnesses like depression are the leading cause for disability worldwide amongst teens and young adults. Suicide rates are higher than they’ve ever been in the U.S. and this leaves people wondering why. Individuals who identify with the LGBTQ community are some of the most prone to suicide and other mental illnesses than any other group of people.
I strongly believe that our pop culture media can promote social change for this country. For it to be viewed as corrupt or evil is ignorant. People do not realize the number of creators making content for our struggling teens and young adults every day. The main goal for these creators is to see their audience consuming their messages of self-love and using it for themselves and others. This is such an amazing way to express yourself in one of the most positive ways.
These same people are the reason why social media platforms like Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter are as big as they are, because they’re used as an escape from the reality of their lives. Our pop culture is not toxic to the youth of this country; it’s here to help express yourself without being judged for who you are.
Author of The Art of Happiness, Dalai Lama, writes to encourage you to practice the discipline of self-reflection. The more you reflect on your life, the deeper you look into your inner self (your soul).
“Both these people illustrate the essential point that happiness is determined more by one’s state of mind than by external events.” the Dalai Lama said.
Many bands have talked about the importance of being kind to yourself and others. Groups like BTS, the South Korean pop band whose message in their recent albums, Love Yourself, inform the listener the importance of loving yourself and others. This amazing group are bringing light on real-life problems that aren’t being talked about.
One thing that made me fall in love with this group is that they’ve opened up to their fans about their past struggles with depression and not feeling like they’re good enough in this world. To be able to connect with them by knowing they’ve experienced some of the same feelings and have gone through a lot of the same struggles themselves is very reassuring.
Kim NamJoon, the leader of the band, has spoken at the United Nations on the importance of ending child violence and recognizing mental illness in our youth.
NamJoon urges fans to first love themselves, then speak themselves. “Tell me your story. I want to hear your voice; I want to hear your conviction. No matter who you are, where you’re from, your skin color, gender identity: speak yourself.”
BTS continues to work with campaigns like UNICEF, working towards ending child violence, and their own campaign called Love Myself that targets youth to do just that.
A more known form of pop culture are video games. Heavily consumed by younger generations, media targets these games by pushing negative images on to the game and the people that play these games. Mass media wants you to view games like Call of Duty, the global war-based franchise, as promoting violence to children.
Researchers say not only do video games improve hand-eye coordination, but they do not lead to antisocial disorders or violent behavior. It’s ridiculous the negative outlook older generations have on these children who simply want to escape from reality to do something they enjoy. This stereotypical narrative we hold over our youth for something as simple as video games being the cause of school violence and mental illness is wrong.
Over the past several years, video game creators and professional gamers have been working to change negative opinions on video games. Super Mario Bros. creator Shigeru Miyamoto encourages kids to both play video games, enjoy the outdoors, and be accepting of their own emotions. He wants kids to allow themselves to experience feelings of happiness and sadness without the distraction of video games.
“Experiencing the pain of falling down is very important, as is the feeling of butterflies in your chest when you’re in love. The specialized knowledge you need for developing video games – that can come later. What’s more important now, when you’re young, is to challenge yourself in the world that lies before you.”
I find this advice terrific. Not only is he explaining the importance of experiencing emotions, but he’s reassuring that you will still be able to do what you love when the time comes. Mr. Miyamoto continues to develop video games with Nintendo where he plans to spend the rest of his working years.
Every day we’re being influenced by pop culture without realizing it. I strongly feel that our pop culture has one of the biggest effects on today’s society and that’s why it’s important to educate our older and younger generations how to responsibly respond to it.
As we move forward into the future, I anticipate what pop culture will bring us. Will it continue to be positive and bring awareness to taboo topics within our society, or will it fall and encourage bad behavior within our youth like it is perceived to do?
Personally, I feel we will only grow better than these stereotypes people put over pop culture. Generations from this point on should begin teaching the positive and negative sides of it, not avoid the topic and let it become feared like it has been for so long. For now, I hope we continue to use these platforms to educate people in their lives.