wombat_socho

Maybe it's just a symptom of my being tragically overinvested, but I fail to see a significant difference between being in fandom and "having a life of your own." It may just be a hobby, but hobbies are part of your life. You're going to like the things you like whether or not you're in the fandom for them. In my experience, you can either be alone with your interests, or you can be with the people who share them. Your hobbies are part of what makes you who you are... putting them aside would be like trying to be someone you're not, in my opinion.
This is pretty much the way I feel about it. Fandom (for me) hasn't been such a hideous experience from end to end that I want to wash my hands of it and move on to something else; YMMV, and I know of some young people whose mileage has varied quite a bit from mine. But they're not me, and I don't feel the need to leave fandom because of their awful experiences.

There's a problem with the concept of fandom as a safe space for kids who don't fit in, but that deserves a longer post of its own. Later today, maybe.

I first got interested in fandom in 1974, when I went to my first convention (also my first Worldcon) in Washington DC and was blown away by all the cool stuff going on. Seeing fandom at closer range in 1983-86 in Minnesota (and again from 2000 onward) definitely affected my impressions of it, and not for the better.