23 Popular Things That Were NOT Worth The Hype, According To The People Who Tried Them
We recently asked the BuzzFeed Community to tell us which things got a ton of hype but ended up being disappointing. Here's what they had to say:
1."College. People told me it would be the best years of my life; I would discover who I was and learn how to be an adult. I was miserable. I changed majors three times and learned nothing that would help with my career. I was at my lowest point mentally and had breakdowns constantly."
"I commuted, so I didn't feel like I had much community or opportunity to build a community at school. I'm proud of finishing a degree and made a few great friends, but otherwise? I wouldn't do it again if I had a choice. My current job doesn't require a degree. If you're considering college, remember that what comes after really matters."
—Anonymous, USA
2."Y2K. Turn off your computers on NYE 1999, or everything will crash! Nope."
—sf84
3."Getting a transplant. 'It'll make your life SOOO much better!' Six months after, I went into rejection, and they gave me a buttload of steroids to save it. After that, my body reacted and put on twice my weight, and I couldn't stand or walk for long without agonizing pain. I had to buy an electric wheelchair."
"And now, because my doctors left me with C-Diff for a year, my transplant has died, and I'm back on dialysis and hoping that someone really horrible with my blood type dies so that I can get another secondhand kidney."
4."AirPods. Everyone had to have them because of how 'compact' and discreet they were, and now, I think they've mostly been replaced with over-the-ear headphones or corded ones since they don't stay in your ears, and the audio quality goes way down after a couple of months."
5."Blackberry was 'all the hype' until everyone jumped on the Apple bandwagon."
—donotgogentleintothatgoodnight
6."Honestly, the Harry Potter books. Everyone hyped it up so much that I remember thinking that they were gonna be the best books I ever read (I read them about 10 years after they came out). The plot was always predictable, the characterization was inconsistent, and the fantasy tropes didn't land."
"For instance, Harry, a child who was failed by the system so many times and even criminalized under it, became a wizard cop when he grew up. It just felt like after the first book, no thought went into them, and it was just a cash grab."
7."Any music festival or outdoor concert. I'm over them, and I will never go to another one no matter how many of my friends say, 'But this one will be better/more amazing/so fun.' No. They are the worst. Sweaty, smelly masses crushed together. The women's bathroom situation is always a nightmare. Food and drink costs are not just price gouging, but price-eviscerating."
"And all so I can either hear a terrible version of a song I love performed by an artist or only hear the people around me badly 'sing' that song. I'm already too old for that; I'd rather spend my money on a nice date night or a new board game to play with my friends."
—31, Nebraska
8."Running barefoot. It was a thing, and I was talked into it by a fellow runner. It was a complete hour of painful humiliation followed by a week of bruised and battered recovery. Never again."
—56, New Jersey
9."Bridgerton, Season 3. Other than Penelope, it's meh. I'm more just outraged at waiting two years, getting four mediocre episodes with so much going on; I have to have an 'A Beautiful Mind'-style chart next to me each episode. Penelope deserves a season to herself, but I feel like she is still a background character. I get they had to establish Francesca (which they are at fault for giving her one minute of screen time in the first two seasons) — BUT the fact they are taking the spotlight away from Penelope to do it is tragic. I wanted a plus-sized woman in the front of the season, but god forbid they do that. Also, every time Colin is on screen, I'm like, 'Someone come and tell this guy to shut up.'"
"Cressida can go hide in her sleeves for all I care; a snake is a snake, no matter how much sad backstory you try to shove down my throat — the whole Violet Bridgerton is getting towards letting her 'garden bloom,' etc. Penelope is one of the few saving graces of the season (that mint dress at the top of episode two was amazing), if not her mother/sister's interactions on the sidelines, which each time were way funnier than they had a right to be. She is an amazing actress who I don't think they let on screen enough, even in her own damn season. So infuriating and disappointing."
—31, Nebraska
10."Chick-fil-A. The chicken is just meh. Nothing great. And their fries suck."
—52, California
11."Disneyland. My first trip to the park was with the USC marching band, and we were there to show off for the upcoming Rose Bowl. I'd spent three years with classmates/bandmates/friends telling me what an 'amazing experience' Disneyland was."
"No one understood how I had lived into my early 20s, never having been. I wasn't from California, and my family had been dirt poor, so going on vacation to an expensive tourist trap some 1,300 miles from home wasn't an option."
—44, USA
12."The Tesla Cybertruck. It looks like it lost service while loading and only managed four pixels."
—32, Michigan
13."The McRib Sandwich, every single time. I tried it again during the last promotion, thinking I was just not giving it a fair chance. Nope! Now, return the chicken wraps, McDonald's! You owe us for that, and it's the least you could do."
—Anonymous, New York
14."CW did an amazing job with the DC shows. Snyder was a sure thing when his version of Justice League was released. The Flash movie was amped up and advertised a lot, emphasizing Michael Keaton's return as Batman. That movie was a mess, even with Keaton."
"Batman is my favorite hero, but CW did it better without Batman."
—34, Missouri
15."Something I ordered because it looked pretty effective on TV — a little drain snake for home use. Appeared to work great in the ad, but what I got was a little piece of Velcro on a wire that was too wobbly to ever go into a drain."
16."Agatha Christie's work. I read Murder on the Orient Express a few years ago and was enjoying it throughout, trying to pick up on clues and figure out whodunnit before getting to the end. Oh, no! I get to the end with about three suspects out of 14, one being significantly the most suspect, and the detective solves the crime with new information presented at the end. I was not happy with that!"
"And Agatha, only one committed the murder. Everyone else abused the corpse. P.S.: The other day, I recommended AC's works to my sister-in-law for my 10-year-old niece's summer reading. She's an advanced reader and needs to find out sooner than later."
—Anonymous, New York
17."Cryptocurrency. It was supposed to revolutionize commerce from the ground up, but it made no sense to me initially. The fact that these coins had to be 'mined' using wild amounts of electricity further distanced me from investing."
"Many people have lost serious money, and there's really no way to recoup it."
18."Schitt's Creek. It just wasn't funny. Felt like you had to laugh at it because people told you it was hilarious."
—45, Canada
19."Turning 50. I thought it was a big deal, but it was really just another day like the day before and the one after."
—50, California
20."The original Shake Weight."
21."Going way back here: the Xbox Kinect. It was Microsoft's answer to the Wii, and everyone got one, used it for three months, and then never touched it again. Gimmick technology has that tendency, but at least it was fascinating to experience it at the time."
22."Avengers: Endgame was a fantastic movie. The next MCU phase was looking to be good. Spiderman came out and was amazing. Then, every movie from there was such a disappointment."
—34, Missouri
And finally...
23."Being an adult. I know they tried to warn us when we were kids, but all I wanted to do was grow up. Now, I'm here, and adulting is hard. Definitely did not live up to the hype"."
—28, Arizona
What are some other things that didn't live up to the hype? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.
