If you want to be friends with people interested in certain stuff, it’s a good idea to know about that stuff.

Pop culture is easy and common, meaning you’ll increase the amount of people available to make friends with.

I know a little about a lot of things to the point that I can easily make pleasant, inconsequential conversation with most people as I somehow learned small talking growing up but being an introvert, I’m not particularly interested in making friends with anyone who isn’t into the stuff I really care about.

depends on the generation, if your milleaneal or older trying to converse with genz, good luck. they arnt going to beinto something isaip, or stargate. it was pretty cringey to watch how the audience dint know who rob mac is in a talk show.

I would say definitely not essential, but it can elevate both forming and having one. There should still be something in common to build on.

In general, being a big fan of both Psych and Scrubs on TV, I would say pop culture references elevated both of those shows for me greatly. It feels like theyrey sharing insider jokes with me and I do get them.

Your acquaintance sounds like a cool person.

“What kinds of stuff are you into?” is probably the question you wanted to ask instead of asking about pirating random content.

IMO, pop culture can be a great icebreaker, but it’s definitely not essential for building meaningful friendships. I’ve formed friendships with people even when we had no shared (pop) references whatsoever.

In my experience, learning about someone else’s (pop culture or other) interests can be a meaningful way to get to know them better.

At the end of the day, it’s not about which movies someone likes, but the substance of your conversations: empathy, shared experiences, and the trust that comes from opening up, for example.

Just be curious, open, and supportive. The rest will follow.

And hey, your favorite movies will come up eventually. Who knows, you might end up watching something new together.

To me, shared experience is always an easy ice breaker. Stuff like mainstream media is a quick win. And yeah, sometimes if people are a bit more underground or indie as far as their media is concerned grants them an image of having a distinct personality, but that usually only works if they’re socially strong and have other stuff they can connect with other people over.

I’m not saying you should consume anything that gets promoted massively, but keeping an eye on what’s popular and seeing if anything floats your boat might give you an easier time striking up a conversation with someone.

I used to be really dismissive of anything with a huge advertising budget. If something gets promoted everywhere all the time, it’s unlikely I’d give it a chance. Somehow I felt more interesting than others because of this. Turns out you’re not, people lose interest really quickly when they can’t talk to you about anything.

I’m one of the oldest people in the multiple tabletop gaming groups I play with. There are a lot of missed references in both directions. There’s a wide diversity of taste in music, movies, books, streaming shows, etc. We just laugh it off, or ask to be caught up when we don’t get it. Helps a lot that we all like each other, and have the games in common.

So it is possible to move past it. But it can make it more challenging to click in the beginning.

I don’t know if it’s a symptom of getting older, but I can tell you that pretty much every time I’ve hung out with friends in the last few years the conversation eventually devolves into what we’ve been watching.

I think that it can help you find your people. If it’s something really mainstream like Breaking Bad or whatever, you might as say “I like icecream”. But when it gets to slightly more niche stuff that isn’t hogging 90% of the online conversation or airtime on the radio, I think you’re more likely to find people with similar interests or views or personalities to you.

Screw that ephemera

I mean consume entertainment you like no matter

But don’t waste your time getting familiar with pop culture for socializing.

Instead geek out on whatever truly interests you. Find those people

Depends on the group. A running group, not too much of a problem not knowing any.
A board games group, likely quite important but not mandatory.

Depends who you want to be friends with. But I’m general, no.

In some ways it is crucial, being able to talk about pop culture stuff is as essential to small talk as talking about the weather. Some people see these as trivialities, but it’s an essential part of human connection.

And I feel it everyday, I have zero interest in pop music, zero interest in pop culture, I couldn’t give two shits in a tin bucket about movies or shows.

It’s going to make me sound like a douchebag, but I like plays, theater, art, jazz, human expression. And most people don’t and I feel the disconnection continually. I don’t think repeating jokes from the office qualifies as a personality or sense of humor. And most people do.

So to come back around, it’s essential to basic connection with other people, but I find it endlessly frustrating.