Is everything bad good for you?

That is the claim of author Steven Johnson in his new book Everything Bad is Good for You.

His premise is that most of pop culture -- tv shows, movies and video games -- are all actually brain stimulators and are ultimately good for us.

He references Woody Allen's book "Sleeper" where a look into the distant future revealed that sugary treats like cream pies and hot fudge are actually proven to be healthful...

He then extends the metaphor to Xbox and other video games that are usually under fire in the media for their extreme content, including sex and violence. He sites the problem solving and decision making of the game playing process, as well as the reward system inherent in most games, as features that are beneficial for us. Of course, he doesn't closely examine the nature of many of those game rewards... He does look at the kinds of thinking that keep the brain fresh and argues that video games do the same things for us that word games have been proven to do -- keep our neurons firing.

While Johnson's claims are appealing, I think there may be better ways to keep our brains active. Don't get me wrong - I am an advocate of video game playing; I am just not sure I'm ready to equate it to spending time with the classics.