Stuff you were sure would never catch on

[schrodinger]

My teacher thought digital cameras were just a fad, and obviously is still being proved wrong to this day.

Planking was obnoxiously relevant for a while. Thankfully it lasted for a short while, and hopefully all stupid photo fads will have quick deaths.

Facial Gauges. Oh my. People have to realize once they're over the gauges the big holes in their ears, noes, cheeks, lips, etc are going to needs a surgery, stat.

 

[Julius Terrell]

I agree about MLP. I mean I used to watch in back in the 80s, but that was never a show people took seriously to begin with. I've never watched an episode of this new series, but every time I go to otakon, The amount of fandom I see for this show is off the charts.

The legend of Korra I can understand, but can somebody please enlighten me about what's so great about MLP.

 

[Kyrian007]

I'd agree with texting. I still reply to texts with phone calls. People say "why didn't you text back." My answer "you wanted to talk with me, you just asked me a question.

But in my case it's really touchscreens. A screen is an output device. Covering up output real estate with your hands and fingers diminishes any screen's effectiveness in its primary function. Touchscreens are counter-productive and a terrible idea and when technology develops to (for example) project an input interface, the touchscreen will go the way of the Betamax.

 

[Moderated]

I still say iPads and other tablets are stupid. It can't fit in your pocket, so why not just get a laptop? Also all the jokes about the name.

 

[Arnoxthe1]

MLP. I thought it was some stupid thing the kids were into ironically, just to be different or something. In fact, I grew to despise the show because of it (and because ponies started showing up on all my favorite sites)!

Well, we can all see how wrong I was just by looking at my avatar... :/

Heh, looks like they assimilated you, man. Yeah, same here though. Which is weird because I can usually see why a lot of stuff is popular. Pokemon, Gangnam Style, Twitter, Twilight, Halo, Call of Duty, etc. I, of course, may not like something personally, but I can still usually see why it would be popular. Not MLP though. This is one of those big exceptions. Never would I have suspected that grown men would like a show made solely for little girls. And to this day I still can't see why at all. I've asked a couple fans but I guess if you already watched some of it and you're still not into it, I don't think it's something that can be explained to you.

 

[StriderShinryu]

[...]

come on.

most tweets are about what the tweeter eats, wants to eat or how it affects their bowel movements.

and considering that most of the 150 characters you can use are already used by words like "like" and "oh my god" you dont have much time to say something interesting.

of all the messages someone writes on twitter, the majority is senseless venting and status updates like " i just drank a liquid! and it rehydrated me OMGWTFBBQAIRPLANESAUSE!"

[...]

thats the quality of 80% of all "meaningful" tweets.
OF ALL TWEETS!

That can be said for ANYTHING. 80% of Youtube videos is bad. 80% of television is bad. 80% of everything is bad. It's about finding the good stuff. Regarding twitter, the biggest tip I can give: Don't follow normal people. Of course a typical teen isn't normally gonna post something good. Follow the people you already like - for me it's certain videogame journalists and programmers, for others it might be the stars they like.

Pretty much this.

Twitter isn't necessarily a game changer for me or anything, but it's a service I tend to have sitting open all of the time. Most of the appeal of Twitter for me comes directly from who I follow, and very few of those people post the senseless "I just ate a sandwich! It was good!" style tweets that seem to spawn most of the Twitter dislike evident in this thread. Because you can pretty much customize what you see on Twitter, and don't have to post a single thing if you don't want to, it really boils down to if you're seeing stuff on Twitter that you don't like, that's your fault and not the fault of the service.

 

[RariShyZealot]

can somebody please enlighten me about what's so great about MLP.

All the episodes are available on Youtube, you can just check it out yourself.

I fear I would not be the most unbiased of people when discussing the show...

 

[iseko]

pokemon... Saw it as a little kid. I thought to myself: this is never gonna last. I give it one year tops!

Heheheheh

Also: twitter! I still think it sucks tbh. I can see the appeal of facebook and I use it a lot. I don't put any pictures on it but still. Twitter however is the most useless invention ever. Every time I hear about twitter it is about somebody tweeting something they shouldn't have, followed with an apology about how they "spoke" without thinking. CUT THAT SHIT OUT!

 

[Signa]

Pokemon. No, it was already popular once I knew about it, but I never would have guessed its longevity.

 

[captainballsack]

"Cool Beans". It's such a random collision of words and ideas I never dreamed anyone said it outside my high school. God, I wish that was true.

You can blame Hot Rod for that.

OT: Gangnam Style. I saw it night of release because my sister is a big K-pop fan. I found it hilarious and showed it to my best friend. It was something the two of us found absolutely hilarious, and then holy shit the entire human race collectively killed it for the both of us.

Never thought anything like that would catch on, but we were horribly mistaken.

 

[rednose1]

Bitcoins. I remember reading about them when they first came out and laughing. "Who would want virtual currency?" I asked...
Yea, I'm awestruck by how well they done. If only I had thrown ANY amount of money at them when they were dirt cheap.

 

[Drops a Sweet Katana]

Adult onesies. Why? Just why? You could make a case for fancy dress with some of the the novelty ones but their everyday use is just perplexing. They're ugly and impractical for lazy days, which they're intended for (trackies and a hoody are at least acceptable to wear outside).

 

[kasperbbs]

Tablets, first time i saw one i thought that it was just an oversized phone for a price of a laptop. Then i got a smartphone and experienced the joy of watching media/reading manga while laying in bed, but wanted a bigger screen.. So i got a nexus 7.

 

[ATRAYA]

MLP. I thought it was some stupid thing the kids were into ironically, just to be different or something. In fact, I grew to despise the show because of it (and because ponies started showing up on all my favorite sites)!

Well, we can all see how wrong I was just by looking at my avatar... :/

Heh, looks like they assimilated you, man. Yeah, same here though. Which is weird because I can usually see why a lot of stuff is popular. Pokemon, Gangnam Style, Twitter, Twilight, Halo, Call of Duty, etc. I, of course, may not like something personally, but I can still usually see why it would be popular. Not MLP though. This is one of those big exceptions. Never would I have suspected that grown men would like a show made solely for little girls. And to this day I still can't see why at all. I've asked a couple fans but I guess if you already watched some of it and you're still not into it, I don't think it's something that can be explained to you.

I guess I was surprised by the high quality of absolutely every aspect of the show. Most children's shows are designed with the idea that kids are stupid and they'll watch any old crap you put on the air. But I was thoroughly impressed with the writing, art style, voice acting, music, and, above all, animation. As an animator, seeing how much effort they put into making Flash animation look so good blew my mind! lol

I've introduced the show to quite a few people; some of them like it, and some of them were indifferent. As long as people give the show a fair try, I don't care if they don't like it/are neutral towards it. I just don't like it when they refuse to try it yet vehemently hate it anyway, because I was exactly the same way at one point.

 

[Evonisia]

Miley Cyrus, and when I say Miley Cyrus I mean it. No Hannah Montana influence. That said, "Party in the USA", "The Climb" and other 2009 songs don't count 'cause they were obviously boosted by the Montana fandom.

When I heard "Can't Be Tamed" I knew she wouldn't make waves. She was just trying to take advantage of people's interest in pyscho videos (see Paparazzi, Bad Romance and Telephone). It promptly flopped. Then the vastly superior (though not very good) "Who Owns My Heart" failed to even reach the Hot 100. That album didn't do very well. Then in 2011 Hannah Montana finished for good, and her career was nearly dead in 2012.

Now she's the most important person in the world. Her VMA stunt was the most talked about event of the summer (overshadowing the better performances of the night). She's even scored her first #1 Single with "Wrecking Ball" (ugh) and her first #1 Album with "Bangerz" (it's OK I guess and I'm not including the four Hannah Montana albums that hit #1). Talk about a career revival. If her music wasn't so vapid and her attitude so sour I'd be happy about it.

 

[Blitsie]

Being able to play console and PC games on one's phone. If someone told me that seven years ago I'd just laugh and laugh and laugh.

The fact that we can now have GTA San Andreas, among many others like Quake 3 on our phones is pretty darn impressive if you think about it.

 

[Parasondox]

Snapchat.

It's become a general messaging service, because apparently MMS was too difficult. It's also frustrating as hell.

Oh my god you have just said what I was thinking. Most of my friends use Snapchat just to say "Hello", when all thye had to do was just, I dunno, text me or message me on kik or Whatsapp. I don't want to see a selfie whenever you say hello or just want a full conversation on Snapchat.

 

[Michael Deeley]

"Cool Beans". It's such a random collision of words and ideas I never dreamed anyone said it outside my high school. God, I wish that was true.

You can blame Hot Rod for that.

Actually my high school was using it in the mid-90's; 10 years before Hot Rod was made. I still have no idea where the phrase came from.