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Where did all the nerds go?
I was a nerd.
Back in the 80's, nerds were easily identifiable.
If you spent your time playing computer games instead of real games, were pale and lanky, you were a nerd. Bonus points if you played D&D or read books for fun.
Now everyone seems to qualify.
Everyone in high school looks pale and lanky. They all have their noses buried in their digital devices.
Does the concept not even exist anymore?
Or do I just no longer "get it"?
Part of what you're seeing is the victory of nerd-dom: Everyone else realized that computer games were cool.
Part of it is also that you're unable to see the stratification that still exists. Among those with their noses buried in cyberspace are the new jocks, the new preps, the new losers. It's simply being out of touch with exactly how the younger generation functions.
That said: most people (even back in the 80s) don't fit into an easy category like that really. Modern "youth" allows for a much wider range of sub-cultures and groupings that intermingle because of a wider reach for friendships.
I think a part of it is also that the barriers keeping people from joining a hobby or fandom are much lower, too. You don't need to hunt down tapes of a show you heard about, hope to find that out of print comic, or have to read through a dense rulebook just to get into a game. Everything's much more accessible.
A part of me does miss having that kind of smaller, cozier sense of community. That said, I'm not going to brag about walking to and from school uphill both ways. :p (Heck, I grew up with the internet, which in this metaphor means I didn't even have to walk through the snow!) I wish I had easier access to the things I was into when I was a kid, and younger kids today are better off for having that. There's just a nostalgic part of me for the more tight-knit groups, and that sense of discovery when you found something really neat.
I'm not trying to be rude, but this post comes across as incredibly gate-keepy. I mean, does it even matter if someone is a nerd or not? What's with the label?
I'm personally more interested in the person's interest rather than any labels society places on them for acting a certain way.
Had to google that one.
Labels were a thing, back when I grew up.
I'm asking do the younger generation have similar labels these days.
Not sure how that qualifies as gate-keeping, but then the only gate-keeping I can relate to is in political or religious circles.
If I use and define a label like nerd, then I'm labeled as a gate-keeper?
So gatekeeping is a label used by people who don't like labels?
No, the gate-keeping aspect is the establishment of a set of specifications for a label. In this case the 80's definition is outdated. Today it's a lot more fluid.
e.g. I'm an academic, love tech and do DIY electronics at home, love sci-fi and RPGs, am fairly skinny and not tanned, and was bullied/shunned as a kid for my interests. But, I also love to party, play sports and have tattoos. Am I a nerd?
By the 80's definition, I think everyone does :)
I feel like my original statement was fairly inclusionary...
I am also perplexed, but I do appreciate your well thought out and kind hearted responses.
You've done such a wonderful job of explaining your point of view. Let me try to do the same.
I don't know anyone who self identified as a nerd or a dork back in the 80's.
I frankly feel incredibly uncomfortable labeling myself as a nerd. I never considered myself a nerd. I don't remember anyone calling me a nerd. Almost nobody in high school cared that I tried to program and hack my computer. Just like absolutely nobody in high school cared that I went sky diving. The only thing that interested anyone was the weird drunken antics I sometimes got up to at high school parties.
I didn't mention all that originally because it seemed unnecessary and superfluous.
But it seemed rude to categorize 80's nerds as having undesirable traits without admitting that I did some nerdy things myself. So I simply said I was a nerd, and that used to be a bad thing, but now we all do those things, so what are the bad things now?
If people want to be a hipster nerd (they were a nerd when it wasn't cool) then let them. If hipster nerds want to gate-keep, who cares? If someone instantly assumes I am a hipster nerd who is trying to gate-keep, well... now I am curious. And more than a little amused that I inadvertently stepped on a land mine. Are generation z'ers anti-labels and pro-inclusion about everything, or is it just the computer-nerd thing?
This is the golden age of computers. You can learn anything. You can do anything. Individually, anonymously, or as a group.
The only person who can exclude you from doing something, is yourself.
"Do. Or do not. There is no try.” - The Empire Strikes Back.
“It's not who we are underneath, but what we do that defines us.” - Batman Begins.
Edit: Hopefully that comes across as more inspirational than anything else.
I'm surprised at how many people got triggered by your (imo fairly innocuous) question. Ironically these "gate keeping" comments might be an inadvertent response to your question? Even mentioning the concept of high school cliques causes outrage, and maybe that's further proof of why we see less obvious "nerds" vs. "jocks" vs. "whatever". In other words, calling yourself an "other" is criticized so harshly by acceptance culture that kids must fall in line & conform.
It's not just "nerds," most easily identifiable social groups are kind of averaged out now because of the internet. This counts for punks, goths, jocks, and all the other tropey things.
You don't need those subtle clothing/music/movies signifiers to fit in with your group because online research makes it easier to be a convincing "poser" and it's easier for people from different social groups and walks of life to discover stuff that the others are doing. You don't need the same intensity of interest to participate in communities anymore and the existence of group chat has rendered most of those obvious visual signifiers moot.
Your comment really resonates.
It is so much easier to expose yourself to different activities.
It's funny you should say this. I was just talking to a guy who has kids in high school and we were talking about how different things are from when we were kids in high school (ie: the 80s).
He says there don't seem to be any cliques of any sort anymore. No jocks, no preps, no nerds. Everyone seems mostly the same - they may all have different interests, but they use the same (online) tools to explore those interests. And nobody parties. No parties, and little irl socializing of any sort.
It seems like the ultimate triumph of technology. I'm hoping we're all going to be better off for it, but it's so incredibly different, I don't really know how to process it. I know high school was fucking painful for me and maybe this means it won't be as bad for the younger generation.
Yes!
When we were growing up, our interests were primarily defined by what our friends did. Sure, we branched out, but it was a hard fucking slog going it alone.
Now you just google it, and you can replace your hard drive then repair your garbage disposal.
To be sure, I question if the lack of IRL socializing is a good thing, but on the whole the younger generation seem a lot more emotionally mature than we were.
This might be a consequence of where you live. My nephews party a lot. Like, too much. But it started after they got cars. In the city I live in, the kids also seem to party a lot and they start way younger, presumably because they don’t need cars to get around.
And there are identifiable cliques, but they’re just not the 80s move trope cliques. They’re more like around areas of interest or identification. The rednecks hang out with the rednecks, the Black kids all sit together, the rich kids and the poor kids don’t interact much, there’s a bunch of riot grrrls, etc.
That last one is probably one of the biggest. There are still cliques of kids who are rich and popular, but popularity doesn’t necessarily tie down to the “football team and cheerleaders” thing.
Pay a visit to you local boardgame store that hosts Magic The Gathering days. You'll see.
I could be qualified as a nerd or not. I like boardgames, metal, linux and the command line. I also go to the gym and have nice clothes.
But i have friends that are way more into boardgames and love super heroes and star wars to the point of buying minis, clothes, etc. I don't know what is a nerd.
It's just people with different interests.
Nerd culture won. It is now basically indistinguishable from the dominant culture.
I was in high school until last year, and there are definitely still nerds. Sure, everyone has a phone and plays video games now, but most high school students just learn enough about technology to talk to their friends and consume media. D&D and Magic the gathering are still nerdy hobbies, at least in my area. Most kids play video games on a console, the nerdier ones build their own computers, host game servers, and have a less superficial understanding of technology.
I wasn't around in the 80's, but it seems like cliques were more rigidly defined then. I think now they still definitely exist, but it's much more accepted to be friends with people from other groups, so you'll see "nerds" and "jocks" hanging out as friends, but I don't think that means nerds and jocks no longer exist.
Are you gate keeping being a nerd?
That's an, uh, odd thing to do.
It's not odd if you consider that many people struggle with having a stable identity and/or an identity that gives them a sense of meaning/uniqueness/satisfaction.
Not that it's a healthy thing to do.
Care to re-phrase your question without the term "gate keeping"?
Are you [committing the act of controlling, and usually limiting, general access to something] to being a nerd?
That's an odd thing to do.
Not at all. As I said...
Playing computer games were a low hanging fruit back then, the future is inevitable. But today's futures looks gloom and repetitive. A fancier computer (or mobile) game is still...just a game. There aren't many more ground breaking future lifestyles anymore. Just little bit incremental ones.
Just my thoughts.