this post was submitted on 27 Aug 2026
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ADHD

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I cannot describe the visceral level of aversion I have to mainstream shit. It doesn't matter if the show is the best thing on earth, if the general public knows about it (And I don't mean the internet I mean the general public) then I refuse to watch or partake in it. I have no idea why and it genuinely kills me to be like this and I have no idea why.

It prevents me from joining most fandoms nowadays unless the fandom is super niche. Things like Hotel Hazbin, Star Wars, The Office, K-pop (in general), Kpop Demon Hunters, most popular anime... WHY. WHY AM I LIKE THIS?? Is anyone else like this? Even people just mentioning "Oh yeah I love One Piece, you should watch it sometimes" makes me go "Oh fuck nah I'm good" as if the damn show was a personal insult. I feel like a stuck-up prick when I do this but I genuinely can't control it, why????

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[–] ericwdhs@discuss.online 1 points 1 day ago

I'm no expert, but this sounds like a learned response reinforced by the fact that most popular things genuinely aren't high quality, that it's easy to transfer the negative feelings associated with ads onto their subjects, that most people's opinions (at least as usually expressed) are pretty shallow and often not more substantive than ads themselves, and maybe a dozen other smaller things.

The only thing I can think to suggest is exposure therapy, finding and experiencing popular things that you actually end up liking and/or opinions about popular things that are more substantive. For me, this would look like:

  1. Forcing myself to watch popular things I've already identified as things I'll probably like, and just powering through any aversion.

  2. Picking a piece of media I like, finding reviewers who seem genuine and have good things to say about that thing, looking at other things they've recommended that might be more popular, then watching those things.

  3. Watching video essays about popular things that more thoroughly defend what's intelligent, creative, underappreciated, etc. about them.