Of course it's becoming mainstream. Quality of life for most people has been declining in America for a while. Trust in our government is at an all-time low. Most people don't have _any_ friends, let alone a sense of community. Much of the country is _still_ recovering from the economic crisis, even though the stock market has fully recovered. An unexpected illness can bankrupt most families in the country. Social mobility is going down every year, and it's basically a requirement to be in the top 20% of performers to be able to live comfortably. Political partisanship is higher than ever. Old forms of media have been recently exposed as rigged and controlled by the rich, and the new forms of media online provide so much input, most people can't emotionally adjust.

With an increasing anxiety on the state of the nation and a decrease in security for most people and their families, it's only natural that prepping would become mainstream.

It seems to be in the USA. However, I attribute that to the fear based culture prevalent here, the "winner or your a loser" mentality, that government is untrustworthy viewpoint, and the high degree of tribalism and differentiation throughout society.

Edit: language

100% going more mainstream.

I know it'll seem like I have an ulterior motive, but it's the opposite - we recently started our site after teaching people one-to-one for a decade because we've seen it go mainstream just in the last 1-2 years, and particularly since the election.

Almost everyone starts off thinking it's a fringe thing until they find out their friends and neighbors are into it too.

The honest answer is it's not. There was an uptick from the North Korea situation, but the comments here just remind me of that New Yorker article.

As in, it is Valley-streamed right now.