That’s kind of a terrible attitude. You’re not completely wrong, Hollywood and tv land does like to take a lot of shortcuts and considers us mostly functional idiots, but there is still new, exciting things happening (everyone does bullet cam now, but when we first saw it, HOLY SHIT!). There’s lots of interesting things going on in music - I find some new artists fantastically creative.
I thought that, too, that the CGI was only middling because all the stone in the background was so blue! Then I saw pictures of New Zealand and it really is that color. Doesn’t make it any prettier and doesn’t excuse the stone that is CGI, but I was surprised that there actually is stone that color.
I’d say early to mid-thirties. I was never all that connected but some combination of old age and “reality” tv drove the nail in it.
I’ve never watched any reality tv shows including the talent contests. Never watched the primetime game shows. (That fad didnt last long did it?)
Never watched 24 or Lost, nor anything named CSI. I did used to catch some Law & Order reruns on TNT(?) after work but not for years.
I’ve never seen any of the HBO/Showtime dramas, because I haven’t paid for premium cable/satellite in at least 15 years.
Last year I think it was, there was a loud crescendo of attention on the Chris Brown-Rhianna incident. My initial reaction was, “who?” I had to look them up on the internet.
Celebrity gossip interests me not at all. My opinion is that celebrities date/screw/marry/cheat-on/divorce other celebrities because there’s publicity at every stage.
See, in my twenties I disconnected from pop culture. Now I am actually curious to see what has happened while I wasn’t paying attention.
It would, however the flip side of that coin is that all men are rampaging sex maniacs destined to either go to jail or get shot by an angry father on the steps of the NYC courthouse.
I think it has more to do with the difference between “youth culture” and “adult culture”. Youth culture is all about being “hip” and “cool” and up on the latest trends, music and fashion. As an adult, things like career, mortgage, starting and raising a family are more important. I still go out to bars and see bands play, for example, because I enjoy doing so and life is not all about chores and work. But that is not and should not be the center of my life.
I think we are saying the same thing. Those are the “other things” which people get busy with. 
Age 25, which was back in '03, pretty much killed it for me. Firefly, the last TV show I watched regularly, ended, and my pop-culture-loving ex and I called it quits. She had been the driving force behind my new TV/Music/Film discovery since age 17, before which I had been oblivious to non-country/oldies music and non-network TV. During the personal financial wreckage that followed, I became accustomed to not watching TV, since I didn’t own one.
The date for me varies.
I quit listening to most pop music ca. 1985, when I got a tape deck in my first car.
I didn’t watch much in the way of first-run television through most of college (1986-1990), then picked it up again for several years, then cut way back again ca. 2000.
I’ve never much cared what movies everybody else was seeing (I still haven’t seen Avatar), I’ve tried to see the best of what was out at any time, but I haven’t been able to see much of anything the past two years or so.
I pretty much didn’t follow pop culture starting back in my late teens. That was in the late 50’s/early 60’s.
Having said that, I do watch The Simpsons and Family Guy, and thought Avatar was a great movie.
I guess I justpick out the few parts I like.
I was always contrarian, and while paid attention to pop culture, always went the other way. When Levi’s red tag jeans were popular (and later, designer jeans – I’m talking the late 70s), I wore either Lee or Sedgefield or some other brand.
Secretly, I’ve always pointed and laughed at those who follow along and join the “must have it/watch it/wear it/buy it” set. My father wasn’t very materialistic, although since he grew up in the Depression, he valued comfort and quality in what he owned, but my point is I never “kept up with the Joneses.”