Someone I respect a lot once explained the difference between YU and Lakewood as how public the hobbies are. Guys at both places might have a collection of Star Wars books. The YU guy keeps his on his shelf; the Lakewood guy in a drawer.
That is silly. You go on to write, “The main difference, as many say, is how much people think they can learn from the outside world as opposed to how much it should be avoided.”
This is much closer to the truth, but doesn’t address the fact that therefore, non YU yeshiva guys are in fact less exposed to the outside world, hence less likely to take an interest in Star Wars. Not that there aren’t any, but it’s a lot more than just a difference of how public it is; there’s a big difference in how prevalent and absorbing it is.