You’re going to hear a talk about guilty pleasures. You will hear the talk twice.

The first time, just listen. Then I’ll ask you to tell me generally what the
speaker is talking about. Are you ready?

It’s about what guilty pleasures are and whether it’s a useful concept or not. The
speaker says it is a useful concept for society.

Now listen to the talk again. This time make some notes as you listen, if you want
to. Then I’ll ask you to tell me how the speaker evaluates the concept of “guilty
pleasures” and whether he reaches a conclusion. Are you ready? Now tell me how the
speaker evaluates the concept of “guilty pleasures”, and whether he reaches a
conclusion. You have one minute to talk.

Suggested points:

1.Examples of guilty pleasure: wearing pyjamas all day etc

2.They are looked down on
3.It creates a conflict between short-term and long-term desires
4.Real guilty pleasure = ashamed to admit, eg Pokémon Go
5.Nerd culture has led to less guilty pleasures as niche interests are accepted
6.Not a useful concept because you are insulting someone’s work
7.Not useful because you are lying to yourself to suit society
8.Some guilty pleasures can be unhealthy, eg Facebook stalking
9.They are also unproductive, eg too much reality TV
10.The speaker says it is a useful concept for society as we can distinguish
between what is respected and what is not

script
Wearing pyjamas all day, having a second helping of ice cream or cake and watching
series that you’ve seen ten times before, have been voted among the UK’s top guilty
pleasures in a recent study.

We know these things are looked down on by most people. We’re supposed to appear
respectable – which both the pyjamas and the ice cream (in the long term) might
prevent.

This creates a conflict within us, where our pleasure-seeking reptile brain comes
to blows with our more socially oriented human brain. The reptile often wins.

A real guilty pleasure is something you’re ashamed to admit doing afterwards.

There’s not much music that’s too embarrassing for me to share with others, but I
might not admit to the number of hours I spent playing Pokémon Go as an adult.

Bu recently, it seems that the rise of nerd culture has led to a demise in guilty
pleasures, as people are now sure to find others who share their niche interest,
and are therefore less likely to feel different. Reading comics can’t be described
as a guilty pleasure anymore.

Indeed many people take issue with the whole concept. When you label something a
guilty pleasure, you are saying something that you enjoy, and that someone probably
put a lot of work into making or designing or writing, that that something is
shameful. It’s not a nice message.

Moreover, conforming to social pressure and expectations about what is cool is

maybe not the healthiest attitude. Maybe it is “cool” to just like what you like,
without worrying about its street cred.

There are some behaviours though, that I think deserve to fall into the category of
guilty pleasures. In moderation, there is no problem, but too much Facebook
stalking of exes, to cite one example of a common guilty pleasure, is not conducive
to a healthy mindset.

So many guilty pleasures are also unproductive, and should probably be limited. You
only get one life; how much of it do you want to spend watching annoying reality
TV?

It’s complicated, but I do think the idea of guilty pleasures has some value. In
many cases, it is useful to distinguish between what is respected by society and
what is not. I might prefer one or the other depending on my mood.