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The refusal to try something just because it's popular.
Fuck pickleball.
I played pickleball in secondary school for gym. I've had enough of it for you.
So it wasn't just me?
The gym teacher was an Olympic badminton athlete. Anyone who could beat him in any sport automatically got to marks and never had to show up again. It never happened.
I do this sometimes but typically more because I want to see if people still think it's good post-hype.
For me, it's kinda the other way around. I'm often the sort of person that does exactly that, refuse to try something exactly because it's popular.
Why? Well, when everyone around you is doing a certain popular thing (let's think like video games or sports, but could be anything really), I sit on the sidelines and realize it's becoming an addiction for them, and I'll literally count the years my friends and others waste away partaking in that addiction.
Don't ask me how many years I watched friends waste playing Call Of Duty. For me, I like to mix it up, a different hobby or project or whatever almost every day.
If you're enjoying your time, it's not a waste.
You do have a point there, I'll give you that 👍
My skills, projects and hobbies just tend to be a bit more diverse than people that seem to get stuck in ruts.
Sure, sometimes I like playing games. Sometimes I like fixing stuff. Sometimes I like modding and inventing stuff. Sometimes I like programming. Sometimes I study mathematical theories. Sometimes I like riding BMX flatland.
...
I'm the same except I don't have productive hobbies like you. I refuse to do things which are popular. Not all but most things. I don't refuse them because they're popular but when I feel they're popular for no reason.
I refuse to use Instagram, tiktok because they have no reason for me. I don't posts pics or videos of mine on the internet and content there is largely trash. But I use YouTube.
I refuse to watch mainstream movies and series because for some reason I don't like watching humans act. But I watch anime.
It's social signalling, and it's supposed make the curmudgeon seems better than the common rabble and therefore high-status.
That is a reasonable explanation of people who announce their refusal to participate in a fad.
What of the people who just ignore the fad, without publicly declaring their refusal?
This is something I do, so I'll take a crack at it—though, bear in mind, it might be total bullshit.
It's a defense mechanism. Many popular things are—in my estimation—objectively terrible. Every time something utterly devoid of merit (and often actively detrimental to the public good) is generally agreed to be a popular sensation, the connection I feel to my fellow human beings takes a hit.
I want to believe in people—in society. But I'm clearly a judgmental sob. So maybe by avoiding the popular things, I'm trying not to further my own alienation.