Most of us like to believe that we're not slaves to fashion but we often are.
One of my favorite examples (although there are many) is inline skating/rollerblading. It was all the rage in the early 90s or so. It's rare to see someone rollerblading today. I pick that example because it was somewhat related to tech that it took off. But there's no good reason for it to have pretty much died off.
The amusing part about inline skating is that when you go by kids they're look "wow look at that guy skating". And then they never skate themselves.
I suspect there's a few issues
- If your parents don't skate you'll probably never get competent at it
- You need to be actually good to not injure yourself or on a pretty flat area. Rollerblades do not handle holes in pavement nearly as well as bicycles or shoes.
- Bicycles have actual utility like getting to work/places. For Covid a ton of people bought skates [1] but honestly I never saw that many more people skating then compared to before/after.
- They're pretty bulky. A Bicycle can transport and lock itself up but if you skate somewhere you'll need a bag to store them.
I played ice hockey through college and beyond so rollerblading was pretty straightforward modulo rough surfaces and pavement that isn't flat. But I sort of agree. Even though it was popular at one point, it's something that has a learning curve for someone who hasn't, often painfully, learned activities that provide an on-ramp. Not that I became an expert but picking up inline skating as an adult was pretty easy for me.
And, yeah, it isn't an activity that has any real utility. I don't really bike (didn't learn as a kid because didn't have a real place to safely bike--narrow country roads). But might have done so if there was a real practical reason to do so.
Of course, inline skating was a popular activity at one time and it just fell out of fashion.
and this callout is funny because it's actually re-emerging as a popular hobby. so there is probably some subconscious influence that led you to call it out here.
One of my favorite examples (although there are many) is inline skating/rollerblading. It was all the rage in the early 90s or so. It's rare to see someone rollerblading today. I pick that example because it was somewhat related to tech that it took off. But there's no good reason for it to have pretty much died off.