The Dark Side Of Being A Geek

I’ve noticed there are two types of geeks. There are those people who have always been geeks, and then there are those people who are wanna-be-geeks who wouldn’t wanna be a geek if it wasn’t so popular right now. There is definitely a rise in “how to be a geek” tutorials popping up all over the Internet. These two groups of people are very separate in my mind, and I can spot which group someone falls into after only talking to him or her for a few minutes.

As I read on Geek-O-System today, geeks are enjoying a massive cultural renaissance right now, and that is something we should all be rejoicing in. However, if you are an old school geek like me, there could be a dark side to it all. Do you remember back before geeks were considered cool? Do you remember why we were called geeks by all the preppy kids at school in the first place? Let me remind you.

It was because we didn’t follow social norms. We didn’t wear what everyone else was wearing, we didn’t talk like everyone else was talking, and we surely weren’t interested in the same things as most people. We lived in our own little world, and we found joy in things most people would cringe at like playing obscure video games, building our own computers and hacking any gadget we could get our hands on.

However, now that being a geek is a social movement in itself, we often times experience the exact social pressures we scoffed at back in the day. Geek girls are no longer considered the ugly girls. They are sexy, cute and stylish. These girls in Star Wars swimming suits are a perfect example of that. Geek guys are no longer ignored. They are in high demand and suddenly popular with the ladies. Could it possibly be that now being a genuine geek carries with it unrealistic social pressures just like other forms of pop culture?

If you are interested in this topic, there is a profound post about it that you can check out called The Dark Side of Geekification. Does being a geek girl require meeting sometimes self-imposed social expectations, like becoming our own geeky version of Carrie Bradshaw? What do you think? Either way, if you are a true geek, I want to encourage you to stick your guns and not get sucked in to complying with what others expect you to do or be. Above everything else, the only true way to be a geek is to be yourself. It’s the number one rule of geek, and always will be. Rock on!

Via: [Geekosystem] [The Mary Sue] Image Credit: [Andreas Gradin / Shutterstock]