"This tendency is something I've come to call 'hype aversion': an avoidance of the pop-culture products that seemingly everyone insists I would like. It's not that I'm somehow above it all or too cool (I don't consider myself cool at all). Some people are early adopters; others are late adopters. I'm simply a weirdly resistant one."
"I've been this way for a while now. It was the same back in the early aughts, with The Wire, and in the later aughts, with Breaking Bad. Though eventually I succumbed and watched both shows-and loved them enough to rewatch them years later-my unwillingness to engage with literally popular culture in the moment that it's popular seems only to have intensified in the ensuing years."
The author experiences 'hype aversion,' a resistance to consuming popular culture products that receive widespread acclaim and recommendations. Despite hearing universal praise for shows like The Pitt, Breaking Bad, and The Wire, the author finds themselves increasingly unwilling to watch them as more people recommend them. This pattern has intensified over years, though the author eventually watched Breaking Bad and The Wire and loved them. The author clarifies this tendency is not about being cool, contrarian, or nonconformist, but rather a peculiar resistance to engaging with hyped content in real time, even when it aligns with personal interests.
#hype-aversion #popular-culture-consumption #social-recommendations #contrarian-behavior #media-resistance
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