It is such a common element of culture but when I look closely it doesn't make too much sense.
What are the general characteristics of a nerd?
- Smart and interested in academics.
- Physically underdeveloped and bad at sports.
- Socially awkward and unattractive.
Does this cluster make sense to you?
Sure, health problems can make you both unattractive (and subsequently awkward) and small/weak/uncoordinated. But what do smarts have to do with this? I'm guessing statistically a healthy kid is likely to do better at school than an unhealthy one.
So how do nerds come to be?
Is that because kids who don't do well socially are more motivated to excel academically?
Do smart cool athletic kids refrain from getting into nerd stuff because it's frowned upon in the cool circles?
Is being a nerd a sort of a "mild" autistic spectrum thing?
Also, a follow up question. Are nerds actually smarter on average by any measurement? Why or why not?
I feel like part of it is definitely that certain types of hobby used to be socially unacceptable. Maybe not unacceptable, just looked down on?
Stuff like working on electronics, reading comics, or speculative fiction, or playing table top games.
So then if you weren't able to compete in more physically demanding hobbies, you'd do this stuff and get shunned by the other kids as a result. Similarly if you were just interested in these things, engaging with them and being seen to engage with them caused you to lose social prestige.
I think that being cut off from socialization outside of your small circle of friends is not great for improving your social skills so the problem naturally exacerbated itself.
I do think that this is all basically a relic of the past though, "nerd culture" is just pop culture now.
:this:
i also feel that the usage of the word "nerd" itself is changing. i know guys i'd call car nerds, or sports nerds, or hip hop nerds, simply because they're into that in a nerdy way where they have a ton of obscure knowledge that they collect obsessively.