Blog One!

So I am Kayla & this is my first blog entry for this blog. I had a blog quite some time ago that I was going to post on frequently and only post what I found interesting. Unfortunately I got lazy and the blog still exists but it's spread out over giant leaps in time. Pop culture to me has always been what's in & what everyone is talking about or a part of. Everything from the Rubriks Cube, to big hair, to Walkman's. I define it by things I remember, have experienced or seen throughout my life. I remember the hype surrounding America Online now known as AOL. The "You Got Mail" trademark & the ever irritating dial up sound defined a lot of the 90's. Eventually users didn't need AOL to log on to get access to the internet & their software was no longer needed.

Trading in my cassette tapes for CD's was an interesting crossover because you no longer had to wait for the tape to play side B and the "rewind" button became a "next" button.

Pop culture and fads go hand in hand or they fade in to something similar just upgraded. By that I mean IMing or chat rooms were a big deal to talk to your friends, family or people from around the world. That got replaced by texting via your cell phone, Facebook & Myspace. Even stepped up a notch with Skype which is a convenient way to talk to family & friends "face-to-face" who are nearby or far away. Popular culture can also be a negative thing. The "popular" thing could be certain clothes, brands, or music. Not everyone likes what is popular and when someone says they don't like these things they are looked at strangely or made fun of because they don't like it or can't afford it. I was once made fun of by a teacher in training for not having a computer. He was on a discussion of the Oregon Trail computer game & asked the class who had a computer. Everyone raised their hand but me. He then said "Oh my gosh really? Just get one...What a loser." Unfortunately my family didn't have the means to get a computer at the time & his words made it sound like it was so easy to obtain one. Like if I blink my eyes one would magically appear.

Popular culture is something different to everyone. Recently I overheard a guy said Hipster to him is what clothes he likes put together. Not what others think or what magazines say are "in".

Through this blog I hope to piece together what or who defines popular culture. Is it office giants or the masses discovering something that spreads like wildfire by word of mouth? Also I want to delve in to the negative aspects of Popular Culture. For every action there is reaction or so I'm told. I will also post what I find to be popular whether it is or is not.