When I was young, only nerds liked nerd stuff and you were better off just not admitting it to anyone. Scifi, fantasy... hell, even video games were borderline nerdstuff. Sure Star Wars was the obvious massive mainstream exception, but Star Wars didn't make Star Trek cool.
I suppose things started to change with Star Trek: TNG and then the X-Files, followed by the success of Harry Potter (books and films), the Lord of the Rings, superhero movies, etc. Teenage me would be quite shocked to be informed that 50 years after the start of Doctor Who, adults are not at all embarrassed to admit that they are fans.
Off to watch the anniversary episode.
