Are we still living in 1999?

Ross Benes' new book 1999 : The Year Low Culture Conquered America and Kickstarted Our Bizarre Times.

Benes argues that the '90s trend toward lowbrow entertainment reached its cultural zenith in 1999 .

The book isn't a jeremiad, but it makes a compelling case that the most reviled forms of entertainment were instrumental in creating many things we enjoy today .

The Truman Show, Big Brother , and The Amazing Race premiered in 1999 .

Benes says 1999 was when Jerry Springer truly became a pop cultural force.

He also notes the rise of video games not only as a popular pastime but also as a target of elite censorship.

But Benes is strongest when he eschews the premise of fitting his examples into a single year .

Low culture is a story of technological advances that enabled broadcast to a mass audience.

Many innovations underpinning the modern internet were originally developed for distributing smut over the web.

Congress drafted the Communications Decency Act of 1996 specifically to restrict access to internet pornography.