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I use the "culture test" for this kind of things: if something is talked about a lot in one part of the world but not the other, it means there's an underlying

by mojuba 5y ago

I use the "culture test" for this kind of things: if something is talked about a lot in one part of the world but not the other, it means there's an underlying industry that has their money in the media and the so called influencers. As for mindfulness, for example, you can almost unmistakably tell an American from a European online, by how someone talks about meditation or ignores the topic. Interestingly also, podcasts seem to be a lot more popular among the Americans compared to Europeans. In this age when we seem to live in the same shared information space, I can only explain these discrepancies by some serious marketing money but local to some country or region.

honkdaddy 5y ago
You think Americans like podcasts more than Europeans because of American marketing? Sometimes it can just be simply cultural preferences I think. I can think of lots of American made products which succeeded much better in parts of Europe not due to a specialized marketing campaign, but just because the product was more in line with European preferences. I don’t think that the internet has homogenized us quite to the extent that regional preferences no longer exist :)
- mojuba 5y ago
  Take the classical big American cars vs. small European cars, I think it's pretty much a fact that the love of big cars was manufactured by the auto industry in the 1950-60s and is likely supported to this day by, again, some marketing money. There's an interesting documentary about these things by Adam Curtis called "The Century of the Self", and esp. part I "Happiness Machines".
  - taneq 5y ago
    I thought the giant cars/trucks were a cobra effect style thing resulting from a loophole in emissions standards for commercial vs. passenger vehicles.
    - mojuba 5y ago
      Well then who lobbied those standards? But undoubtedly advertisement and more subtle product placements made their job even easier.
jetbooster 5y ago
Why does it being cultural imply that there is someone pushing it in order to make money? Specifically regarding podcasts, Americans have on average much higher commute times, and I've found podcasts are brilliant for when I do long drives here in the UK, so that would explain the difference in popularity

by mojuba 5y ago

honkdaddy 5y ago

You think Americans like podcasts more than Europeans because of American marketing? Sometimes it can just be simply cultural preferences I think. I can think of lots of American made products which succeeded much better in parts of Europe not due to a specialized marketing campaign, but just because the product was more in line with European preferences. I don’t think that the internet has homogenized us quite to the extent that regional preferences no longer exist :)

mojuba 5y ago
Take the classical big American cars vs. small European cars, I think it's pretty much a fact that the love of big cars was manufactured by the auto industry in the 1950-60s and is likely supported to this day by, again, some marketing money. There's an interesting documentary about these things by Adam Curtis called "The Century of the Self", and esp. part I "Happiness Machines".
- taneq 5y ago
  I thought the giant cars/trucks were a cobra effect style thing resulting from a loophole in emissions standards for commercial vs. passenger vehicles.
  - mojuba 5y ago
    Well then who lobbied those standards? But undoubtedly advertisement and more subtle product placements made their job even easier.

jetbooster 5y ago

Why does it being cultural imply that there is someone pushing it in order to make money? Specifically regarding podcasts, Americans have on average much higher commute times, and I've found podcasts are brilliant for when I do long drives here in the UK, so that would explain the difference in popularity