By skyforbes 
“You need to nerd out.”
That phrase has been bouncing around TikTok for the past few weeks, and for people like me, it’s hitting harder than expected. It’s not just a trend. It feels like a small cultural shift.
Growing up, I always leaned toward the weird, the niche, the not-so-popular. While everyone else was talking about sports or the latest pop culture drama, I was deep into theories about universes most people didn’t even know existed. I had favorite shows no one else watched, and storylines I was emotionally invested in, but rarely anyone to share that with. I didn’t feel completely alone, just… distant. Like I belonged to a parallel timeline where everyone spoke my language, but I hadn’t found the portal yet.
Now suddenly, TikTok is that portal.
This trend has created a space where being passionate, obsessive, and curious about fictional things is celebrated. People are talking about their favorite characters, plot twists, power systems, and headcanons with real excitement and no shame. It’s not ironic or performative. It’s real.
A lot of this resurgence in open fandom culture has been sparked by the buzz around James Gunn’s Superman. It brought sincerity back to the superhero space. It reminded people that these stories aren’t just about explosions and capes. They’re about hope, empathy, and the human condition, even when the humans fly.
In a world that’s gotten colder, faster, and more detached, nerding out is a form of rebellion. It says, “I still care. I still get excited. I still believe in meaning.” And that’s powerful. Nerd culture has always been about building worlds, imagining better ones, and finding people who see what you see, even if it’s made-up.
What really gets me is that this emotional healing, this wave of kindness and sincerity, isn’t coming from lecture halls or think-pieces. It’s coming from manga panels, sci-fi lore dumps, video essays about cartoon villains, and TikToks made by people who genuinely love the stuff they talk about.
Maybe the world is finally realizing that loving something deeply, even if it’s fictional, is one of the most human things you can do.
So yeah. You need to nerd out.
And honestly? So do the rest of us.