Jenna's Pop Culture Blog

In the article "Why We Play" and in the video with Jane McGonigal, they both touched on 3 things that were both in the same of each other. First in the article, one reason being is Challenge and Mastery, which motivates us towards success which we see as also possible (maybe far fetched) but real life instances. But Jane addresses this point as just working hard and continuing to try to over come obstacles. One wants to be able to pass a level lets say in a game, so they practice this over and over until they get it. Making 'gamers' good problem solvers. Another one would be Goals, Challenges, and Rewards, in games we get positive feedback or some kind of benefiting reward by accomplishing something, which again is another motivation for us to do good in a game so we can receive this positive feedback or reward that might give a boost in the future. Jane explained this in the video by saying that with the knowledge that one is possible to achieve a such goal, it makes...

I think that the example of how when Rap music was emerging that parents were very condemning of it, due to the idea that it seemed to promote topics such as drug use, sex, and violence through explicit words. And as it is in a time where people are expected not to be racist, or judgmental, so they use the idea of calling out their taste in pop culture as almost like an indirect hit on the minority who are seen connected to this type of entertainment. It's not acceptable to call out the people who may be linked to making bad decisions cause it would be a direct attack on that minority, so this way is so much easier, and not as direct.

In the video of Digital Nation, they pointed out that there are schools that are giving laptops to students. And because of this, they have seen increasing grades, better attendance, and even less fights. Even though schools have seen results that are good, but also more students are also being distracted more and easier. Therefore, making it more work/harder for teachers to constantly have to patrol and make sure that students are staying focused and actually doing their work. I know from personal experiences in high school, when I would have teachers allow computers out and then they just lectured, I would find my self doing either other school work or other unproductive things. Looking at the pros and cons, I found the similar pro that the media has been seen to help students do better at school, that being that they are able to access information easier and quicker, a lot of schools have homework online so it's almost always available to students, so no more "I forgot my...