Patton Oswalt writing for Wired magazine:
Everyone considers themselves otaku about something—whether it’s the mythology of Lost or the minor intrigues of Top Chef. American Idol inspires—if not in depth, at least in length and passion—the same number of conversations as does The Wire. There are no more hidden thought-palaces—they’re easily accessed websites, or Facebook pages with thousands of fans.
I can’t argue with his observations on how pretty much anything is grounds for any number of people to “geek out” on these days. Talk to the millions of “twihards” or “gleeks” and you have enough proof you need.
The last half of the piece gets a little loopy ridiculous, though his point is made. I remember designing Zelda dungeons on notebook paper as a kid after school. If I had access to all the content I do now as a kid, I would have probably spent that time consuming content rather than doing that. After all, nothing’s more discouraging than seeing other people do things way better than you.