I have never been lied to by a txt file that had been hand-aligned.- XKCD
When I was a younger boy spending my Friday nights in my parent's office, logged into BBS chatrooms and watching late-night PBS, the world was busy painting a picture of people like me that looked like Sandra Bullock on The Net. Seriously, at the time people said that's how the visualized me (*shudder*).
When I read the TMNT graffic novels, an adult comic book reader meant the Simpson's Comic Book Guy. Comics were for kids and something you gave up into adulthood, unless you read the New Yorker.
When I started programming for fun, I knew programmers ended up like Lazlo from Real Genius (how great when a show which celebrates nerds, still makes the computer scientist the reclusive large glasses guy?).
When I obsessed over The Lord of the Rings and other fantasy novels, the friends who shared that love were part of the nerd crew. People outside that group maybe had to read The Hobbit in gradeschool or saw the kids movie.
In college, when I started carrying my US Robotics Palm Pilot, everyone thought it was ridiculous. Who needs a computer in their pocket?
I didn't go through any of the bullying, reclusivity, etc. that many of my adult friends talk about - I was lucky enough to find people with similar interests by the time I was finishing gradeschool. Today, I'm amazed by the world we live in just a few short decades later. Have you noticed? Something absolutely crazy happened? How could that kid ever have imagined this world.
Highest rated show on television? Game of Thrones (and Battlestar Galactica did pretty well too)
Highest grossing movies? Superhero Movies (or epic fantasy: LotR or space scifi: Star Trek and just wait for Star Wars)
Biggest company in the world? Apple [Computers]
Average age of people who play computer games? Thirty-one. In fact there are more people over the age of thirty-six playing games than under the age of eighteen.
Sports enthusiasts love strategy role-playing games! (It's called Fantasy Football if you were wondering)
They sell Doctor Who clothing at Hot Topic. That one is worth repeating. They sell Doctor Who clothing at Hot Topic.
Oh, and basically everyone carries a computer in their pocket.