Here’s a New Year’s resolution for you: in 2026, stop being a fanboy

The concept of “New Year’s resolutions” may have finally come full circle. It used to be a thing two decades ago, then it rightly became a mainstream joke and an Internet meme, then it became something a few people stubbornly insisted on precisely because everybody else didn’t, then it became uncool to make fun of it because that became an unoriginal thing to do… and now, well, now some people are starting to take New Year’s resolutions seriously again by giving the term a different meaning. A New Year’s resolution does not have to sound like a masterplan or a specific goal anymore: a simple statement of intent is all it needs to be.

For 2026, then, here’s my New Year’s resolution: to help as many fanboys as possible stop being fanboys.

Truth be told, fanboy culture always seemed to be an illogical one: consumers siding with companies or powerful individuals as if their interests – let alone their goals – actually aligned? It simply made no sense. Fanboyism used to be harmless, once, but it now borders on toxic, greatly amplified by social media and their own inherent flaws. What’s more, it’s gradually becoming a problem for all consumers, as it’s conveniently muddying the waters of corporate responsibility and accountability in public discourse. Here’s how.

Gamers in despair, consumers in denial

When it comes to tech and modern entertainment, two specific examples of absurd fanboyism drove this point home in 2025. One surely was the fall of Xbox: the result of Microsoft’s numerous, major mistakes over the last decade, leading to the company’s home entertainment systems’ commercial failure, the Game Pass service not meaningfully growing and the Xbox brand being reduced to something almost meaningless.

Weirdly enough, though, Xbox fanboys seem all too ready to put the blame elsewhere, from “market conditions” and “changes in consumer habits”, to “the economy” and even Sony’s past successes, instead of criticizing the gross mismanagement, poor choices and the lack of a coherent vision on Microsoft’s part.

The other example of unhelpful fanboyism that stood out in 2025 had to do with Apple’s Liquid Glass user interface. Many of us expressed their skepticism early on regarding its core design logic and overall approach, but the company’s fanboys maintained that this would all make sense once we’d get to use it. When it was finally released it became clear that – regardless of aesthetics – Liquid Glass has major usability issues, it puts extra strain on any device’s battery and, most importantly, it’s simply unfinished.

But… no. Apple’s fanboys insisted that “”Multi-layer is the future of UI”, that “Apple knows what it’s doing” or that (a personal favorite) “We don’t get it”. It’s only after everyone points out the most obvious problems that they resort to answers like “You can reduce it if you don’t like it” or “We’ll all get used to it”. The fact that, even now in early 2026, Liquid Glass is getting fixes and adjustments with every Apple OS release (while still not giving the impression that the company has nailed down how it’s supposed to work on flat-screen devices) speaks volumes.

Meanwhile, in other camps… same story. PlayStation fanboys were up in arms recently because not a single AAA exclusive for their system won anything in last year’s The Game Awards ceremony, of all things. The same fanboys insist that the PS5 Pro, now at $749, is fairly priced because “one can’t build a gaming PC at that cost”.

Nintendo fanboys are still defending the company’s decision to price Mario Kart World at $80 because “variable pricing makes sense” and “more value, higher price”. Tesla fanboys refuse to accept that – contrary to indisputable evidence – the Cybertruck is a badly put-together vehicle, that true autonomous driving is not ready for prime time or that Elon Musk routinely makes promises he can’t possibly live up to. The list goes on.

Fan is one thing, fanboy is another

What is truly fascinating and irritating about fanboys is that – even after everything that has gone down over the last few years – they still behave as if the companies and products they so fiercely defend actually represent something they can identify with. This might have been true for some of them at one point or another, but… today? In early 2026? No. Corporations only work towards improving their bottom line, serving their shareholders, compensating their top executives – and that has been their way for a very, very long time. They exist to sell. If they happen to benefit consumers in the process, that’s great… but that’s not the goal. It’s a means to an end, which is to make as many sales as possible with as high a margin as possible.

Is this true for all corporations? Yes. Do all companies think of consumers in the same way? No. Some reserve a certain amount of respect for their customers because they understand their future value. But would they do anything for those customers that negatively affects their financials with no chance of return on investment? No. They will choose to do certain things that make consumers happy, but only if those things align with their own interests. Relevant and recent examples of all that are so many, there’s just no point in even arguing about it.

At the end of the day, all products or services are designed to sell, to keep selling and to afford these companies a better market position in order to… you guessed it, sell more. There are no ideals. There is no higher calling here. It’s all sales, all the time, no matter how PR tries to present this to the world. It’s all for them.

So! Dear Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo, Apple, Tesla, you name it… fan. Please understand this: companies do not really care about you. They just want your money, as much of it as possible, as often as humanly possible. That’s it. That’s all. So stop being a fanboy and definitely stop being the kind of fanboy that gives these corporations and the people that run them a pass.

Instead of doing that, be a true fan and ask of them to do better, to be better towards you and everyone else. Question their approaches. Point out their mistakes. Suggest solutions. Don’t justify their self-serving choices after the fact just because that is the easy, obvious thing to do.

If you truly are a fan – and not a mindless fanboy – this is how you get them to deliver their best work, their best products and services. Because if they won’t listen to us – the people who have no illusions as to what these corporations truly are – maybe they will listen to you. Who knows? Once you stop being a fanboy and start being a considerate but demanding fan, they might respect you enough to do just that.