I'm of multiple minds on it, but the short of it is, I don't feel out of the pop culture loop, I know I'm out of it being around here.
On one hand I don't mind that, as I'm frustrated by pop culture essentially being mass market culture. It's not typically something that arises from people interacting and creating together from shared passions, it's produced and pushed by big businesses. Nothing novel about this observation or frustration, but it's a vibe I resonate with.
On the other I know if ever you want people to shift into a popular culture produced in the alternative manner mentioned, you gotta accept the transitional situation of entertaining the mass market culture alongside what you're trying to cultivate. It's too jarring for many to switch over entirely, and frankly there's not enough contemporary non-commercial culture to keep people's interest to justify any attempts at a complete switch.
So in a way, yeah, but also I'm more bummed that it's so difficult to create an alternative non-commercial pop culture.
obligatory
'cause capitalism trying to monopolize everybody's time and make everyone feel they gotta make everything make money