Is Pop Culture Worse Than Ever?

Plain English with Derek Thompson

The Ringer

News Commentary, News

4.8 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 9 May 2025

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In music, billion-dollar investments in old catalogues are squeezing out new music. In film, Hollywood has become addicted to the regurgitation of familiar IP. In visual art, critics bemoan the straitjacket of political correctness. On TV, as Derek told Bill Simmons, we're in a Gilded Age of television, where every prestigious show looks absolutely amazing—but that gilded veneer often covers up for dull storytelling. What do these trends all have in common? The slow decline of modern media. This month, The Atlantic's Spencer Kornhaber published a blockbuster essay, "Is This the Worst-Ever Era of American Pop Culture?" Today, he joins Derek to answer that question. They discuss the four horsemen of the pop culture apocalypse—stagnation, cynicism, isolation, and brain rot—and the case that, maybe, things aren't quite as bad as they seem. If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at [email protected]. Host: Derek Thompson Guest: Spencer Kornhaber Producer: Devon Baroldi Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	All right, my birdie buddies, my car saving pals.
0:03.8	My eagle enthusiast, it's Joe House here.
0:06.3	Major season is finally upon us.
0:10.1	The Masters, the PGA Championship, the U.S. Open, the Open Championship,
0:15.1	and Fairway Rowan is here to break down all of the storylines.
0:20.3	Offer a little help on those betting cards for every
0:24.5	single major this golf season. Join me and our incomparable accomplice, our tour boots on the
0:32.6	ground, Nathan Hubbard, as we guide you from Augusta all the way to Northern Ireland.
0:38.7	Royal Port Rush, away we go.
0:44.1	Today, why pop culture is getting worse.
0:49.3	In the last few months, I've been thinking a lot about dopamine.
0:54.0	I guess it started with an article published
0:55.9	in 2024 that I had a hard time knocking out of my head. It was written by a music critic and
1:01.7	cultural essayist named Ted Joya. In the last few decades, Joya argues, every facet of American
1:09.1	pop culture and leisure evolved from slow to fast.
1:13.6	Newspapers morphed into 24-hour news. Albums disintegrated into tracks.
1:19.6	Handwritten letters gave way to shorter voice messages. In category after category, he said,
1:25.6	the fast ate the slow.
1:28.7	And that would be concerning enough, but it was actually just part one of a two-part shift.
1:34.4	Today, he argues, a new alpha predator has come to town, and it's not slow or fast culture.
1:41.2	It is what Joya calls dopamine culture. Newspapers had been 24-hour news, but now cable
1:49.3	news is dying, replaced by clickbait social media posts. Albums had become tracks, but now
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Ringer, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Ringer and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.