A lot of talk about why fandom seems to be “dying” and, just for myself, I know I participate in fandom less in the past couple of years because of RL imposing on my time and energy. Especially post-2020. It seems like this is a “me problem” but I wonder if I’m not the only one. Honestly, I wonder if this is one more thing affected by living through a pandemic.
Trying to find out (non-scientifically, but still interested in seeing answers, especially if this can break containment) with a poll:
I participate DIFFERENTLY these days, but I wouldn't say more or less than before. In parts because I've been at this so long now that time/energy/platforms have varied over time and it's hard to really have one point of reference for pre-lockdown fandom engagement.
Regardless of living situation (in uni vs after uni, office work vs retail work vs working from home, depression vs not depression, PTSD vs not PTSD, pre kid vs having a kid) the thing that always contributes the most to my engagement is New Fandom Energy. That's far more important for my creativity than anything else going on in my life. It doesn't even have to be an active fandom, it just needs to be new to ME.
Co-signing this! New Fandom Energy is definitely the thing that most drives my engagement levels. I think there are times when I'm most likely to get really into a new fandom that are not entirely unrelated to stress levels... but it's still the case that I have had MANY different levels of fandom activity both pre- and post-covid (including falling deeply for fandoms both before and after), to the point where it's hard to take meaningful averages.
yeah, it's a little hard to quantify if "different" is more, or less, or just different. i started out years ago just reading fic voraciously on line. (message boards, and then ao3) then lurking on tumblr via web browser, then finally with an account, which shifted the reading somewhat from ao3 to tumblr. like, nowadays, i spend that "reading before bed" time on tumblr, where before it would have been on ao3. so still participating, just, different.