It’s easy to get sucked into the allure of a new trend or fad, but the truth is that sometimes as a new thing gains popularity, it looses its original appeal. Popularity can often ruin an otherwise perfectly good thing—whether it’s music, technology or film. Below, we look at 20 different examples of how extreme popularity has turned something wonderful into something that it never should have been.Â
1. Airb&b
One user posted, “OG airB&B was so legit and cheap. Miss those days before insane fees.”
Another user replied, “Yep, I used it a few times in Europe about five years ago, and it was fantastic. Not anymore.”
One Redditor replied, “Like a decade ago I rented a dope a- apartment with a terrace with the entire Shanghai skyline as my entire view. It was like $200/night. Can’t imagine how much that would cost now.”
2. Popular Hiking Routes
“The hiking routes up many mountains, like Kilimanjaro … they are so full of litter and human detritus now,” one Redditor posted.
Another user added, “Any popular tourist destination tbh. People tend to ruin everything.”
3. Second-Hand Shopping
One Redditor posted, “Secondhand shopping. It used to be cheap, but recently, I have seen a stall where a guy tried to sell us an old Nike sweatshirt for ca 40 USD … because it is VinTaGe. And it is really a lot of money even for a new one here.”
Another user replied, “I used to buy my jeans at thrift stores for 5 dollars or less. Recently, I’ve been seeing them for $10+, nothing crazy still, but I can buy a new pair for 2 dollars more, and they’ll last me as long. Shirts used to be a dollar, and now they’re 5. I don’t bother going to thrift stores anymore because they’re charging pretty much new prices for old s-.”
4. Nutrition Advice From Personal Trainers
One online user shared, “Genuine advice from gym goers on nutrition and exercise. Now it seems everyone wants to be a gym influencer spreading so many different opinions creating some mass hysteria where gym and exercise can feel overwhelming and conflicting.” One responded, “These ‘gymfluencers’ are annoying half the time. They give out bad advice, don’t know what they are on about, the males probably just mindlessly blasting gear and the female post 20 progress photos a month looking exactly the same.”
5. Local, Hidden Places
“This is a local story. There is a beach that no one notices except the locals. It’s inside of a break-wall where the water is calm, and there are some sand bars. Sunday mornings were wonderful. It was pretty quiet, and you could let your dogs run free to chase birds they never catch. The boat harbor inside the break-wall was full of smaller boats and was popular with fishermen who liked to fish in the waters of Lake Erie. Outside the break-wall was the main beach with a parking lot far enough away that visitors mainly stayed away from my sandbar. All was well.
“One day, a regional newspaper decided to write a story about the sand bars/break-wall. It was great and quiet, they said. You could drive your car on the beach. You could let your dogs run when there was no one there. Within a week of the article, the quiet little beach area became crowded with people who brought big mean dogs that fought with other big mean dogs who were running around untethered. They got ATVs, and they brought cases of beer, and they left mounds of trash.
“The Harbor Master made lots of rules, including dogs on leashes (some ignored this), security cameras, no ATVs, no alcohol and a fee for parking on the beach. People mainly leash their dogs (which is really a good thing) and the area is primarily quiet again except for kite surfers (very cool).
“I know that dogs on leashes are a great idea. No ATVs are good, either. The place has lost its charm. But too many people know about it. I miss the quiet beach,” one user posted.
Another user replied, “I live in NH, and people don’t like to disclose their swimming holes or fishing spots online now because they’ll get overrun. I’ll still tell people about decent fishing spots, but I don’t really mention the swimming holes.”
6. Camping
One user shared, “Camping. There needs to be tent camping only in state parks.”
One user replied, “I’m very thankful that Canada has so much crown land that’s basically open use. I don’t go to campsites. I go find some old logging or oilfield road and drive down it until I find a spot I like. Much better that way.”
7. Facebook
One Redditor added to the thread, “Facebook. When it started, it was really a nice way to keep in touch with family and old friends. Now, it is completely unshuttered and useless. I miss the days when we had real conversations about our lives there, shared pictures, and really used it as a way to keep abreast of acquaintances.”
Another user commented, “When it started, it was college party photos and a way to socialize & network around campus. It was very much a social network for millennials. Then, a few years after it was open to the public at large, everyone’s parents joined, and everyone had to nerf their accounts and make them PG.
“Enough years of that, and people under 50 just started being less and less active because they don’t feel like tinkering around with filters to separate what’s visible to their peers vs their parents and relatives, coworkers and employers, and the random other people. At this point, my feed is primarily dead except for boomers using it the way millennials did when it started.”
8. YouTube
“Youtube. The early days without the influencers and ads were magical. Loads of fringe videos to explore,” posted one user.
Another user replied, “Yeah. I still use it a lot, but real, I’m tired of the ‘… well, then let me know down in the comments… please SMASH THAT LIKE BUTTON. SUBSCRIBE and HIT THAT BELL because of an algorithm for my moneyz.'”
9. Panera Bread
One user stated, “Panera bread. They started by simply making and selling good quality bread at low prices, and now they’re just Starbucks.”
Another user commented, “Breadbucks.”
10. The Internet
Another online user said, “The internet.”
One added, “Remember the time when nothing on the internet was locked behind a paywall.”
Another user also replied, “Oh man, you have no idea how much I miss OG YouTube. There are no advertisements, and you could even download videos at one point. Now you get ads every 30 seconds.”
11. Chicken Wings
“Chicken Wings. It used to be so cheap in the grocery stores and the odd pub … Was a throw away part …” one Redditor shared.
Another user added, “10-cent wing night is a thing of the past.”
12. Carhartt Clothing
One frustrated online user said, “Carhartt clothing. Used to be durable, reasonably affordable workwear. Then it got ‘trendy.’ The quality dropped & the prices increased dramatically.”
Another user seconded and shared, “Goes for pretty much every brand that sells clothing oriented towards blue-collar workers. Posers started buying that stuff to make it look like they’d seen a hard day’s work. Brands noticed and started jacking up prices. Low-income workers can’t even afford new boots anymore. It’s ridiculous.”
13. Cheap Cuts of Meat
One user shared, “Cheap cuts of meat.”
Another user commented, “Can confirm I work in a meat department, and some of these cuts are being sold straight to restaurants for a premium. I cannot even buy some for my case. Even if I could, a beef cheek or ox tail would be 8.99lb or more … !?!?”
14. Portland, Oregon
“Portland, Oregon. It started in the 70s when Time magazine named it the most livable city in America. New people started moving in, gradually at first but steadily increasing as the years passed. Real estate prices and taxes also increased until the 2010s, when ordinary people could no longer afford to live there. Similar things have happened in a lot of other cities as well, especially Seattle and San Francisco, to name a few,” one Redditor posted.Â
15. Pickup Trucks
Somebody stated, “Pickup trucks. They were used to be relatively inexpensive and utilitarian. You could throw a bunch of toolboxes and supplies in the bed and pile them into it in muddy/sweaty/dirty work clothes and not feel bad.
“Now they cost an arm and a leg, ride like limos, beds have shrunk, and ride heights have increased to ‘look tough’ but just make them more challenging to load and unload. Most of them never pull a trailer, never see anything more than a few suitcases and a kid’s bike in the bed.”
16. Disney
One user posted, “Every IP Disney has touched recently.”
Another user mentioned, “There’s a Disney style that just overpowers the tone of every movie or show and makes them all feel the same. This awkward over-the-top cutesiness, all protagonists have a child-like naivety, everyone’s good or bad, there’s no in-between, injecting characters that have no purpose except be in the shot-making exaggerated facial expressions at whatever’s going on.”
17. Burning Man
“Burning Man,” shared one user.
One user responded, “I second this. Burning Man had been holding strong for years until, well, it became very popular. It’s really too bad now it’s mostly full of truly lame spectators. The ratio of people making it happen versus people just showing up with costumes and drugs to fake dance to mainstream DJs is very depressing. Hopefully, Mother Nature will spank the spectators back to where they’re coming from. Please, kindly, don’t come back.”
18. Being a ‘Nerd’
One user stated, “Being a ‘nerd.’ It used to be a way of life—lots of Star Wars/ Star Trek knowledge, some DnD, knowing the differences between the LOTR films and books, plenty of gaming—however, now, everyone is a self-proclaimed ‘nerd’ because it makes them seem smart (?) cool (?) trendy (?) I’m not sure the reason, but it’s just weird sometimes when you get in a conversation, and people are more excited to tell you how nerdy they are rather than what they enjoy about whatever it is they’re fans of.
“Plus, it feels like more of the media now caters to a mainstream audience instead of their original fan base (which I get because times and topics change), but they often strip the material of what made them popular with the old followers, in place for something more watered down, and lacking in its true message/core.”
Another user replied, “Now everyone who is into something is a ‘something’ nerd. I miss real nerds as well.”
19. Tinder
One online user mentioned, “Tinder. If you were around for Tinder in 2014, it was awesome. Literally just hookups and crazy openers.”
20. Vikings
One user mentioned, “Vikings, the popularity of TV shows about medieval Norse like the namesake TV show or Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, utterly ruined the public perception of these people, undoing decades of scientific communication on how horned helmets aren’t real, etc., with the reality being replaced by tattooed dreadlocks wearing barbarians in fur clothing.”
Do you agree with the things listed above? Share your thoughts down in the comments!
Source: Reddit.
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