Popularity is actually a symptom that might happen if some piece of technology has some good ideas. It is not the cause of the good ideas, and only one of multiple potential effects of it.
But it definitely is easier to look at a number (like the number of stars a GitHub repository has. c.f. hasvuepassedreactyet.surge.sh/ ) than it is to create an in-depth assessment of the ideas a piece of technology uses to see if these ideas:
a) resonate with you
b) make sense for the task at hand
Of course, the only way to make an informed decision of what tool(s) to use, is by doing the latter. But because time is limited and people are lazy, the former is super tempting.
It is true that popularity does not appear out of thin air. But after this 'initial surge', the following happens:
Something becomes more popular because it was already somewhat popular, regardless of the ideas it had. (Is a song in the Top 40 because many people listen to it, or do people listen to it because it is in the Top 40?)
Ideas might change over time, but 'hype' changes slower, because it is an effect of the former. So you might end up with a piece of tech whose ideas might be very muddled (like the current JavaScript landscape), but it remains popular because it already was.
Popular technology gets more exposure. Some people only receive this exposure and do not even know there is a choice to be made, further self-reinforcing this.
Just my two cents and unfiltered train of thought~.
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Popularity is actually a symptom that might happen if some piece of technology has some good ideas. It is not the cause of the good ideas, and only one of multiple potential effects of it.
But it definitely is easier to look at a number (like the number of stars a GitHub repository has. c.f. hasvuepassedreactyet.surge.sh/ ) than it is to create an in-depth assessment of the ideas a piece of technology uses to see if these ideas:
a) resonate with you
b) make sense for the task at hand
Of course, the only way to make an informed decision of what tool(s) to use, is by doing the latter. But because time is limited and people are lazy, the former is super tempting.
It is true that popularity does not appear out of thin air. But after this 'initial surge', the following happens:
Just my two cents and unfiltered train of thought~.