During the 90s American nerd culture had a bad stigma with anime, games, and comics being seen as childish or unmanly. However, there has been a culture shift. People don’t care what you like and things that were “manly” are now viewed as problematic.

People who used to enjoy things viewed as nerdish were ostracized but then they became adults passing on their interest to family, friends, and kids at first most would watch tv, rent tapes, and play games. Then the internet came and geeks flooded it as it would offer the chance to find others who shared your interest. An example would be superheroes.

Comics had been a staple of nerd culture often viewed as for children or geeks and that included Marvel. Until Ironman came out, Ironman was a smash hit paving the way for the rest of the MCU. Almost everyone knows of the MCU; it was what sparked the superhero and cinematic universe craze, turning the view of superheroes from guys in spandex who punch the bad guy into cool complex characters. While the turnover of movie watchers to comic book fans is low the MCU got the stigma of Comics washed away and replaced with the mainstream mark. Marvel’s growth was sudden and fast but that isn’t the same for video games.

Games were confined to dark dingy arcades then came the home consoles which kept the same idea except now it’s a dark dingy basement most were offline games but co-op games would cause a community to grow. A great example is smash bros. Smash players would band together and start hosting local tournaments building a community that played, talked, and taught each other. The internet would help in this effort causing every game big or small to have a community. Gaming consoles would be less bulky, have less wires, and better handling but most importantly games would become multiplayer overwatch, Call of duty, and fortnite would all become massive bringing in more fans simplify because you could now play with your friends. Of course that’s not some people’s cup of tea and they prefer single player games then you have minecraft, dark souls, and red dead redemption some want a story then you have Hades, Bioshock infinite, undertale. Doesn’t matter the person, they’ll always be at least one game they’ll like. Then there’s  Mobile games which remain a massive market just so you can kill some time but it’s also a big helper to bleed people over to consoles. Nowadays more than 90% of children in america have a console with 60.42% of the world owning a smartphone 

Geeks have a massive issue of getting too engrossed with the media like with gaming. People will make the point that staying inside and playing all day isn’t healthy and they’d be absolutely right. Gaming too much can cause pain and inflammation from over using muscles and if not treated permanent injury can result these types of injuries are rampant among gamers. Then there’s the obvious issue of obesity since sitting in front of a screen all day isn’t exactly exercise. Then there’s anime which has the same issue, in which they spend all day watching a screen and with  how much fanservice and more than problematic  ideas are within the shows. Those aren’t the major issue though the issue is how people can create an unhealthy obsession with it. Anime can serve as an escape from the world. The issue is when people start depending on it to help cope with life or some just use it to avoid real life leading to isolation and anxiety. I couldn’t find an article about this topic but a side issue of anime is unhealthy opposition with a specific character. People who are already feeling isolated grow attached to a character to the point of delusion; some think they are real, some think they can get into the world of their character. On the opposite side there are those who know that the character isn’t real and it drives them into depression as the fact they can never meet them makes some feel defeated.

The issue of people not being able to separate fact from fiction has existed forever but it has always been discouraged and seen as an issue. However with how the community around anime is this delusion is sometimes supported or just ignored and unhealthy routines are the norm for most. The Same applies to gaming as hours are the average to the point most spend all their free time gaming and treat medical injuries as jokes. Whereas before most would spend time out with friends and family or practicing a hobby.

Liking anime, comics, and games is fine in moderation. You can’t just sit all day and waste away even if it brings you joy simply because it’s unhealthy. You don’t have to do anything crazy like travel every month, just get a job, go to school, find a hobby, or just go out once a week with friends or yourself. And if you know a friend who just goes to school or work and never leaves then make an effort to try and get them out more or engage in their interest so they feel less lonely.

Gaming, Comics, Anime, and Tabletop games are all fine interests to have and can help improve life in some aspects like from personal experience i can say they help forge stronger friendships or whole new ones. However they can also lead to unhealthy habits that are hard to break and only get worse as time goes on. Which is why it’s important to check yourself and friends or just try to take interest so they have someone to talk with.