The seediness of pool has absolutely nothing to do with it's lack of popularity. Let me spit some knowledge at you, so we can all just stop throwing out that old chestnut because we don't know the reason why. Once I explain it, you will know why pool is failing, and you no longer have to make up a reason.
Pool, and all other competitive games/sports, rely on a new influx of young, aggressive, competitive males to fill the ranks vacated by those too old to effectively compete. (Because males compete at a far higher rate than females..) With the rise of high fidelity video games with competitive leagues and leaderboards, these young aggressive males have an outlet to compete, that would have historically been provided to them by pool. And they start participating in this outlet far before they ever would have been able to set foot in a pool hall.
In addition, what makes any competitive outlet attractive is the endorphin/dopamine rush one gets once one has conquered a major hurdle. Young males get that constantly from playing video games custom-built to trigger these responses, so running a 9 ball rack is always gonna pale in comparison, and require WAY too much work. In fact, dopamine burnout may very well be responsible for skyrocketing rates of depression in today's society..
So, drop the BS about how pool's "image" is responsible for it's failure to be popular. Both movies in the past 50 years that caused huge resurgences in the game expressedly focused on the seedier aspects of the game.
No teenager/20 year old decides not to pursue a hobby just because the older generation doesn't approve. They decide to pursue it because it is "fun", nothing more. And pool has to compete against video games/social media for the "fun" factor, and is found lacking.
I may re-post this in it's own thread to get more visibility.
