By Ghadeer Ghloum

KUWAIT: Pop culture undeniably holds a powerful influence over youngsters’ lives by occupying a major part of their ideologies and beliefs. This makes it crucial for youngsters to be aware of its influence on their mindset and behavior. Accordingly, young people must question and engage with pop culture in a responsible and wise manner. By understanding both the positive and negative aspects of pop culture, youngsters can become capable of taking wise decisions, embrace healthy beliefs that develop a healthy ideology and contribute positively to society as a whole.

To shed light on the impact of pop culture on youngsters, Kuwait Times interviewed two youngsters with opposing opinions. Esra’a, a dentist in her early twenties, who is also a volunteer for the Kuwait Red Crescent Society, told Kuwait Times: “I am a big fan of anime movies. Ever since I was a little girl, I used to watch cartoons that impacted the way I view and think about things. I only realized that pop culture has shaped the way my mind works after I grew up. I feel more compassionate and understanding of people’s emotions because the anime series I watch highlight many human issues that I may have not experienced before.”

According to Esra’a, pop culture has the ability to entertain and inspire through delivering positive messages that can encourage social intelligence, empathy and humanity. “Social media encouraged me to take part in humanitarian actions and join humanitarian organizations, especially after the disaster that happened in Turkey and Syria, where an earthquake hit the countries and caused death and injury to innocents. I saw the effective role humanitarian organizations played through helping the victims and how important it was for the victims,” she said.

Social media displayed an effective example of humanity being a core element that connects people all around the globe, which enlightened Esra’a and encouraged her to take part in supporting others. Unlike Esra’a, Abdullah, a university student, shared a differing perspective with Kuwait Times. “There are many worrying aspects of pop culture. For example, social media platforms are becoming full of advertisements. There is a lot of pressure on individuals to buy things or follow the latest trends that are cultivated among users, otherwise people will not feel fulfilled,” he said.

Abdullah sees the constant appearance of advertisements on social media platforms creates a negative rather than a positive influence on youngsters, as it impacts their consumption patterns and may redirect their purpose of using social media from searching for something useful to seeking fulfillment through materialism. Abdullah also mentioned the role of people who tend to flaunt their life to the public.

“Influencers often portray an image of an unrealistically perfect life from all aspects. They show they are capable of traveling anytime, buying the most expensive vehicles, wearing high-end clothes and managing their lives seamlessly, which makes others view their lives as poor, difficult and incompetent,” he said.