Maybe you're not appreciating how much more mainstream the internet is now compared to the late 90s, early 2000s. Sounds obvious but that has implications.
The proportion of geeks —and I mean as an entirely positive badge of qualification— has been very much diluted by all the other people who just want to take photos of their dinner and children in exchange for likes, shares, views, fame.
There still are geeks out there. They're still creating their own forums. Hell, the forum software we used as children 20 years ago is still out there. I refuse to believe that there aren't just as many miscreants chiselling out their own place on the web, eschewing Facebook and Snapchat and all the other dross that the rest of Generation Z are using.
It's impossible to quantify and so much harder to appreciate with all the noise on the internet these days but it's still there.
You should probably consider that there are plenty of geeks on Facebook and Snapchat and likewise 'dross', and that some of them even also take photos of their dinner and children. There are legit geeks in Generation Z. Probably, I don't even know what that is. Everything after X is just riding our trenchcoat-tails as far as I'm concerned.
One of the things the web has done is disassembled the social and cultural barriers separating subcultures. "Geeks" and "people with lives" and "young people" and "people who use social media" are not separate and isolated sets, they do overlap.
And sure, there are people creating their own forums. And people creating their own forum software. Both get posted here from time to time. But as with the anime community, we really need to get past the elitist attitude that one cannot be a "true" geek, nerd, whatever and still interact with the mainstream. At this point that's like saying you can't be a science fiction fan unless you only read books published before 1975.
While I think we ultimately believe the same things, you're arguing against things I don't believe and don't think I've said. I think you've misinterpreted the tone and content of my post. It's certainly a more aggressive reply on more points than I expected. I don't want to get in to an exhaustive definition argument but I feel I should say something.
I never discounted that Facebook (et al) users also include geeks. We have friends and family too. Never suggested that there aren't geeks in all generations. There are, that was rather my point! They still exist, they're just dilute. Didn't suggest that geeks can't also be popular. Never suggested anything about "true" geeks, that's between you and your anime community. I did actually stress that by "geek", I meant the sorts of people likely to be able to do and enjoy this sort of development.
If it's the only way you can read it, /s/geek/people willing to learn and get stuck in/i
I think it's also become normalized. I'm both very far on the geek-side of the spectrum in interests, but I also spend a lot of time with people on the other end. The kind of interests I can openly have today would have probably seen me ostracized in previous generations. I got a rug printed for my kid that's the floorplan of a 4004 - and nobody even mentioned how absurdly nerdy it is to be making ICs into furniture.
Sorry, I didn't mean to come off as combative, maybe I misread your comment.
These threads pop up every few weeks now and it's getting aggravating. Here we are living in the promised land, as far as geek and tech culture are concerned, and people keep complaining that it's not hip anymore.
The proportion of geeks —and I mean as an entirely positive badge of qualification— has been very much diluted by all the other people who just want to take photos of their dinner and children in exchange for likes, shares, views, fame.
There still are geeks out there. They're still creating their own forums. Hell, the forum software we used as children 20 years ago is still out there. I refuse to believe that there aren't just as many miscreants chiselling out their own place on the web, eschewing Facebook and Snapchat and all the other dross that the rest of Generation Z are using.
It's impossible to quantify and so much harder to appreciate with all the noise on the internet these days but it's still there.