The main problem right now is that the 'average' person doesn't understand Bitcoins, or cryptocurrency as a whole at all. If is hard to accept something you don't properly understand. The media frenzy that happened recently didn't inform the public enough on the function of Bitcoins and how they can be important, they just published stories about Silk Road or about how the value of Bitcoin hit an all time high. In my opinion this is the issue. People need to be informed more.
Yes, the social aspect of bitcoin is tricky since most people haven't even a basic understanding of bitcoin. I myself feel frustrated because I haven't grasped or 'grokked' bitcoin yet. It's still a mystery to me what will happen with bitcoin. So I want to investigate bitcoin from a broad perspective including the social implications long term.