I feel the media has taken a useful word in the technology world and made it almost useless for general usage. I'm scared to even mention "metadata" to people

I feel the media has taken a useful word in the technology world and made it almost useless for general usage. I'm scared to even mention "metadata" to people even in relevant technical context as the word has become politicised and loaded, just like I can't call myself a "hacker" any more.