What is popular culture, and what does it mean to you?
Popular culture is the way people act or react to everyday life on a daily basis. It's beliefs; political, religious or inherited morals, and our customs that define the people of any society.
Popular culture has influenced who I am as an individual, it helped formed my personality when I was young. It's what my ancestors have passed down from generation to generation. Popular culture is also much larger than me as an individual. It is family, community, state, and nation. It's the music we listen to the political party we believe in and the politically correct or incorrect way we view the world. For me, it was watching the Cosby Show and Brady Bunch relating the dynamics of their family life to mine. I grew up in a house with 5 siblings and two parents. The Beatles and Beach Boys music made my parents very happy so we listened to them often. I grew up in Coshocton, Ohio which is only an hour from Cleveland so I was raised a believer of the Cleveland Browns. We would watch them lose most Sundays and know there is always next year to get to the super bowl.Going to church every Sunday morning and being raised Catholic was important for my mother. The invention of the internet and updated versions of cell phones are artifacts that have great popularity and influence with people. I use to live in a world that never had these things, but now I would be lost without them.
Why is an understanding of popular culture relevant to you in a business environment and in your present and future career?
Popular culture is all around us. It is a big part of the medical field with constant new studies and medications hitting the market. Staying on top of advertisements for prescription allows me to be prepared for questions and concerns of patients as commercials come and go. It is also important to stay aware of cultural beliefs and practices of patients. The internet has made it easy for businesses to advertise. The office I work for has its own facebook page that brings in a lot of business as people like and share our page with all their friends.
What would you consider to be an example of a pop culture artifact? And why would you choose it?
The Internet came to be in 1990 which is a popular culture artifact used today.The development of Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter are all social media sites used by a big majority of people. These sites were all invented by people that wanted to allow everyone to stay connected always. Social media offers a new age way to communicate. The internet is also used for informational purposes. Seach engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo are a convenient solution to any question you would like an answer to. Just type it in the search box and you are on your way to an infinite amount wisdom.
You have a very good blog. When you say one of the popular cultures is family, this is very true, a lot of families do what is popular for the sake of their children and to make themselves feel good.
ReplyDeleteYour artifact about the internet is also a good pick. I'm addicted to the internet, any time I want to know how to do something or just curious, the first thing I do is grab my phone or laptop and research it. I can guarantee someone else have ask the question and the answer is there. The internet will always be around.
Family definitely is a popular culture and a big influence on what becomes our popular culture. Like you said the TV shows you watched, the sports teams you followed, traditions your family kept,these were all influenced by what your family viewed as important.
ReplyDeleteI like the point that you made that you grew up in a time where the internet was just not a big part of your life and now you couldn't imagine what you would do without it. This is a perfect example of how popular culture is constantly changing with the times. Online schooling I would say is a popular culture as more and more people are taking part in it.
Great Blog.
Awesome blog Janet. The very first paragraph made me realize that popular culture is way more that what I thought it was!! You made me think back to my childhood and how certain things molded me-- my fathers love for the Steelers and how I now love them and how they are a part of every Sunday in my household now. How I too was raised Catholic and go to church every Sunday. As well as how certain TV shows such as Full House and Fresh Prince of Bel Air played a big role in my life. I was born in the 80's but the 1990's TV shows were a large part of my evenings as a child and in the 90's they always had a meaningful ending and were centered around family.
ReplyDeleteI see that the artifacts you chose were similar to mine. I chose Social Media, where as you talked about the Internet as a whole. That is perfect though. When that launched it was huge and without it I think we would all be stagnant!! Businesses would be run at a much slower pace and our children would have a lower level of knowledge. There is so much available to all of us due to the internet. Great work!
Very interesting blog! I would agree with Kayleigh, your view of what popular culture is really made me think more deeply about the true meaning.
ReplyDeleteThe internet has been on of the most important artifacts in pop culture. With just a touch of a button we can have the answer to any question. To think that people actually had to open a book to search for answers. The internet is definitely something I take for granted everyday. I use it for everything, even something as simple as a telephone number to a local business. Now with smart phones we have these resources at the palm of our hands and readily available whenever we need them.
Hi Janet, I truly enjoyed reading this!! You are absolutely right about family being a popular culture. I too wrote about traditions I had growing up. Football & trivia pursuit were a family tradition (also widely popular amongst others). The Internet has blown up so much. Its amazing to think back to when we had to use encyclopedias to complete research papers. The amount of information at your fingertips is amazing yet scary at the same time. This was a great read, thank you!
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