Pure Nerd, wow. I bow to your intellectual awesomeness. And then offer to tuck in your shirt.

You are probably lucky in truth that you never got into fanfiction (it can be a huge time-killer), but honestly, the cultures and sub-cultures, jargon and tropes that abound in the fandom communities online are astounding, fantastic and endlessly fascinating. If I were ever to actually do a Masters, I'd want to write my thesis on some aspect of such online communities.