What is Popular Culture?

 Pop Culture is often viewed as being part of working class culture. Most everyone is deluged with popular culture multiple times per day, a lot of times without even realizing it. There are obvious and direct ways we interact with pop culture – reading, watching TV or movies, surfing the internet, playing video games – but some aspects are much more subtle. The ways we act, dress, speak, and the terms or phrases we use are a reflection of our pop culture exposure.

Most of the time, I don’t realize how big of a role pop culture plays in my life. That is until I want to ‘talk’ to a friend about a bad day, need a good laugh, or want to do something with friends or family. Pop culture is a way for me to connect with friends and strangers. It gives us something in common to discuss or a fun activity to pass the time.

Why is understanding Popular Culture relevant to me?

People, and the ability to develop a relationship with those people, are the focus of my profession. Pop culture influences many different aspects of our lives and being able to understand the trends allows me to connect with my patients more easily.

Example of a Popular Culture artifact:

I believe that smartphones are pop culture artifact. I am able to make phone calls, surf Pinterest, listen to music, shop, play games, watch movies, or read a book. Smartphones are the center of our electronically driven world with 75% of the American population owning one (Johnson, 2015).

Reference

Johnson, D. (2015). Smartphone ownerships hits 75%. Tatango. Retrieved from: http://www.tatango.com/blog/smartphone-ownership-hits-75-percent/