Well it seems that almost every blog I read on a regular basis has recently mentioned Stephen Johnson’s new book, “Everything Bad Is Good For You”. So really, how could I resist? The book puts forward the notion that “junk culture” such as TV, video games and the internet is not as mindless as everyone likes to say it is. Quite the opposite, Johnson claims: the complexity of today’s media is actually helping to improve our mental abilities. Now with a book like this, for the most part he’s probably preaching to the converted, but his arguments are actually quite convincing. The book seems worth a read, as is his Wired article about how IQs are increasing over time. For someone who runs a website dedicated to junk culture, it’s somewhat reassuring to hear that maybe we’re not all morons for loving this stuff in the first place.