Overrated: Why it's a term that needs to go.

Pretty sure many of us have heard the following (or similar) when it comes to an opinion about something: "I don't like it because its overrated." or"I stopped liking it because it became overrated. Etc." We see it all the time especially when it comes to describing popular video games, music, movies, and even Anime. Nothing is safe from the barrage of individuals who use this term and have this mindset behind it. I've come to notice a common pattern behind those who do use the term, thus formulating my thesis behind why I feel that its a term that is not only very childish but I feel should just die altogether. 

The word overrated according to The Free Dictionary means "To overestimate the merits of; rate too highly."  In other words, It means people having a lot of positive things to say and speaking very highly of whatever it is. Out of the influx of releases, whether it be shows, movies, or video games, its not likely that all of them will become huge hits to the point where people will continuously have great things to say about it. Not everyone who creates kids programming can make a Childhood hit like Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Not every game developer can make a hit like Kingdom Hearts. Yes, some may come close and while they too may receive praise, they probably fell a bit short and lacked what these people had to make their product strike as many people as they did to become so popular. Its bound to happen. The question I ponder now is...why is this a problem for some people?

What I've noticed as of recently is that before something becomes increasingly popular, individuals who begin throwing the overrated label on things actually once enjoyed the said thing. They tuned into, read, or played whatever product it was faithfully. They also did their fair sharing of expressing their positive opinions about it as well whether it would be with friends or online via twitter, Facebook, or tumblr. Everything was pretty much solid and dandy in regards to their experience with it. Suddenly, once the amount of people who too enjoyed whatever it was multiplied, they begin to have an issue with it. Its as if their new "thing" was no longer theirs to experience and that It becomes wrong for X amount of people to share and express their positive opinions just like they were previously. Now its a problem to go online and see many statuses about how great this "thing" is or see images and such that express that as well. Its an issue to casually walk down the street and hear a lot of people talking about it. And it ultimately leads to the sudden switch up about their opinion on this said "thing" and they "no longer enjoy it." This results in one eventually throwing the term 'overrated' on it.  

Its selfish in many ways. First off, these individuals end up robbing themselves of what could actually be a great and possibly live changing experience because you either stopped putting time into it, or you let other peoples positive opinions about it sour their personal experience (it also doesn't make much sense). It's also selfish because that mentality and the actions taken because of it shows that they ultimately want to hold on to something (that's probably public and easily made available) to themselves. And only them and a select few are 'allowed' to enjoy it. Actually, now that I think about it, its also a form of elitism. There's nothing wrong with a lot of others enjoying what you enjoy and probably find special. If anything, it should make your experience even more amazing. You'll be able to speak to others about it and get things from different point of views. The possibilities are endless. Its not bad for something to be popular and for you to enjoy it especially when there's other things that many probably haven't caught on to that you also may enjoy. 

Believe it or not, there's actions that one can take when enjoying something if they feel like it may become "overrated." They can easily just enjoy whatever it is and keep it to yourself or a few others. What do I mean by that? I mean not getting online or whatnot where you'll probably run into a barrage of positive opinions that may bother them. By doing that, they keep your experience private and genuine. Another action one may take is to simply change your mindset. Not everything has to be about "me me me me." Like or not, people like what others like all the time. Its life. If you haven't gotten used to it already, then its time to now. Believe it or not, in this day and age, a lot of people come of as trying too hard to be 'different' and 'cool' by calling things overrated when in actuality, a lot of the said "overrated" things turn out to be pioneers or end up paving the way for something that you may like in the near future.

 Throwing the overrated label on things hurts you in the end. Its a childish term and mindset. How bout you just enjoy what you enjoy and stop worrying about others opinions about your favorite thing. After all, it is YOUR experience right? 

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