Why Are Nerds Unpopular?
 

http://www.paulgraham.com/nerds.html

This essay made me think. It's long, but if you guys do read it, tell me what you think? Esspecially the Americans on the board, this has to do with you. I remember people on here saying they were nerds in highschool.

yea ive always been against distinguishing people in classes- nerd, jock ect. i thought this only happened in movies, because its so ridiculous, kids wishing they were popular, and trying contantly to be liked. at my school everyone seems to like me, so i guess im "popular" but im pretty much friends with everyone, and when anyone tries to put any kids down for getting a good mark, i defend them so they dont feel bad. probably because i know how much it hurts to be critisised by a group of people and having no one to help you out - it really sucks, i was a really screwed up kid and ended up having to change schools because of it (was back in grade 1-3) , i know first hand how much bulling sucks. its like john lennon said "they hate you if youre clever, and they dispise a fool" thats exactly how it is at my school, its ridiculous, kids poke fun at a guy who knows all the answers and studies, then ridicule someone for not knowing anything, an getting low marks. these "bullies" constantly contradict themselves.
i think when bullies make fun of other kids, its to try to be more popular, and to be liked more. great essay and thread.

this thread is kinda getting ignored, annoyingly enough, probably cos no one wants to read the long essay.

i don't wanna sound like a smart ass or whatever and i'm not acting like i hold all of life's mysteries, but the majority (if not the whole) of that essay is actually kinda easy to figure out by yourself... i mean for example i knew for a fact "nerds" don't really wanna be popular.. sure, they wanna have friends, but the kind of friends who spend saturday nights learning, just like them...
plus... why do we call them "nerds".. i don't even use that word... just to describe the kind of guy/girl who doesn't know anything about life but the things they study in school, like math and science. the kind of people with no life and no time for themselves. but i don't call them "nerds"...
plus in that essay, they refer to them as if they're some kind of species... i don't think the nerds you see on tv in american movies really exist.. of course, i'm not from america, so i wouldn't know.
in my school, the smart kids are also the popular ones... the kind o' kids who are good at everything.. like they have them all. but if you're not that smart, it means you don't care. for example i don't care.. and i wouldn't call myself "not smart" .. sure, i could be smarter, but i'm not interested in memorising **** for good grades

it's a matter of choice... and the guts to actually choose what's good for you and not be something else just for other people's eyes....

i really don't give a **** about this subject.. nerd kid vs popular kid.. that essay says what i think.. you're not born like that.. therefore you can choose.. if you're the nerdy kinda kid, you should focus more on your studies than envying the others.. but never forget to make time for yourself and friends and hobbies. kids who do that are not nerds
i think there should be a balance.. you should study as much as you need to in order to pass and get yourself a good education, but in the same time make friends and all that.
maybe i got a different idea of what that word means, but in my opinion, the subject's overrated. if you mind your own business and don't exaggerate in what you're doing, nobody'd treat you bad.. that's just the thing.. if they do treat you bad, why hanging out with them and be popular? popular in your own world means more than popular among ****heads

Because Nerds are Nerds.




Think about it, would you hang out with some guy who likes D&D? No, I dont think so.

I think bullying is pretty much the same everywhere, all for the same reasons, it's like, if you're quiet, vunerable or not able to stick up for yourself, then you get picked on! Esspecially if you arn't attractive, kids are getting more and more critical of the way others look, thanks to the media. I think some people might have senstive feelings on this topic as to why they are not posting in it. The essay is long but you can skim read most of it. Even the start sums most of it up.

Yeah I understand where you are coming from. It's like, to be popular you have to have it all, and be smart, athletic, attractive for girls, not so much for boys, have a hobbie that you are awesome at, a great social life + parties.

I'm glad I never really had to worry about that in high school, I did what I wanted and held my head high so no one challenged me.

It can be hard sticking up for people though, because bullies don't always think what they are doing is wrong. I've had a screaming match over someone with a disability!

I like the essay, I knew how pointless school was, but he saiud it very eloquintly

I find people who are worried about the people who lable are annoying. The kids at my school that are smart arent known as the nerds or geeks. American movies make it seem like the smart kid in high school are the ones with the hitched up pants and the glasses. Its not like that. If your smart your smart. Thats that.

Nerds are only nerds because we label them nerds. Heh, You little pricks!

Well, if Rush, Styx and Devo could sell so many records, i would say that nerds are a very powerful force in society, they should not be underestimated.

Well, he certainly goes on... My first interpretation of this essay would be that it was written by a successul computer scientist, who possibly feels that his success in computers qualifies him as an expert social commentator.

As far as his arguments relate to the lives of nerds and their relationship with popularity, it seems to go something like this:

1) Nerds are those people who, usually due to the influence of their parents, consider it more important to 'get the right answer' than 'to please'.
2) Nerds are unpopular at school because they prefer to focus their efforts on learning, which puts them at a disadvantage compared to other students, who spend all of their time working on their popularity.
3) Nerds focus on learning (point 2) as they are very smart it would be unbearable to be anything other than high-intelligence.
4) Nerds are "playing a different game" to the other students at school. The 'game' which they are playing is closer to the one played in the adult world, which accounts for why "It's hard to find successful adults now who don't claim to have been nerds in high school".

Things must be very different in America for this to really ring true. If my memory serves correct, there were a number of definite 'nerds' at school but none of these were the top students. Out of these 'nerds', a number went on to university (quite a few nerds from elsewhere ended up on my course) generally didn't excel and then had difficulty getting decent jobs or postgrad positions at the end of it, as they tended to not have anything other than grades on their CV and probably interviewed badly.

My opinion on this would be that:
a) The author has made some very interesting points and appears to feel quite strongly about the issue.
b) He is generally wrong. The essay was written from the very narrow perpective of a computing genius, with all of the predictable biases that this perpective brings. There are plenty of people who have been successful in every field imaginable who were not nerds at high school. When he says "It's hard to find successful adults now who don't claim to have been nerds in high school" its actually just a lie. The truth is, its EASY to find successful adults now who don't claim to have been nerds in high school.

Remember guys, friends and contacts do count! Popularity is an important tool in the worlds of business and academia. Ignore the issue at your peril!

to tell you the honest truth-Nerds are unpopular because theyre either too nice or they try too hard. I considered myself a nerd in High School but I had tons of friends and never got picked on-I just wasnt a D&D nerd,I was a Drama Club/Art Club nerd.I think people have so many definitions of what it means to be a nerd,that a lot of us unknowingly are lumped into what could be considered socially unacceptable (ie.not joining the cheerleading squad or football team).I would rather be a nerd than a stuck up crackwhore who sleeps with the whole team.And if there are any guys on this forum that are nerds(and there probably are)remember some girls love nerdy guys........they try harder.

The Nerds will have theyre REVENGE!!!!
sorry.as if you didnt see that coming.

skimmed over the essay, and it reads like it was written by a bitter 15 year old. the points are cliche, the arguments are repetetive, and there's nothing new or illuminating that couldn't be seen in any crap ass teen flick. ahhh how i wish i was in high school again, things were so much easier. yes bullying sucks, but to be honest, i personally havent seen any cases of it since after i left 9th grade. after that, people basically hung out with who they wanted to hang out with, and just left the people with whom they had little in common with alone, so there really was no "popular group" or "nerdy group". then you get into university, and realize that high school was fucking easy, and can't imagine how anyone could possibly be having trouble passing. on that note, anyone feel like writing my paper on marxist and iconographic methodologies pertaining to Masaccio's The Holy Trinity?

im with jib on this one, that essay is full to to the brim with cliches and glamourized classification stereotypes. id say that text came straight from a hollywood movie. but people saying you can "choose who you want to be"....yes, in theory anyone can. but its not as easy as that, theres a number of extraneous factors that can forcefully place somebody into a "pigeonhole". its all crap, my school has a big problem with labelling and its pathetic.

I agree with Jib and LedZepStu. What I found interesting is that I got the same impression as Jibber "it reads like it was written by a bitter 15 year old" after going through it. Then I read the biography of the author and it said this.

"Paul Graham is an essayist, programmer, and programming language designer. In 1995 he developed with Robert Morris the first web-based application, Viaweb, which was acquired by Yahoo in 1998. In 2002 he described a simple Bayesian spam filter that inspired most current filters."

I'm surprised that he put essayist first, as he must be an extremely good programmer/language designer, whereas he's not the most convincing or well-balanced essayist. Perhaps this shows that even some of the greatest, most creative minds can be entirely devoid of perspective!

I think he forgot to mention that peoples personalities and upbringings come into it. Esspecially the point of how insecure someone is and how they apply that to their daily life.

But it obviously brought back memories for some people. For those who have had experiences, would you say it is completely in the past for you now? Do you have any regrets or things you wish you'd of done in high school? Nerd or not.

You go nerds!!! Take your revenge!!! HA haaa!

i wish i hadnt worked so hard. i look back now and realize i wasted hours and hours of my life trying to get good marks in math and physics when really, all i needed to do was pass. of course, some people actually need good marks in high school for whatever course in life they're taking.

I know have no idea why they are unpopular. I like them!

I dont think nerds are unpopular at all, there are billions of nerds in the US alone, let alone the world, who do you think spends money on star wars tickets and helps make them among the highest grossing movies of all time?, jocks and cheerleaders?, hah, who do you think runs video game companys? And lets not forget the great nerd rock movement, Aka Prog. :D

I love star wars, video games and prog, so i must be a nerd. :(

I think nerds is an offence term too! Think of something else.....

Geek.

I love Star Wars!!! I'm like, a secret nerd. I love learning and reading and computers...

On Saturday nights I would rather be at home watching DVD's then going out pubbing! Maybe I'm just a nana...

Wahoo!!

You're too kool for own boots sonny!:)

--Nerds are unpopular because the stereotype of nerds tells you, the average middle school/high school student, that they should be unpopular and that you should treat them like that. And in that age range from 11-16 you can't really think for yourself yet, at least, it's rare for you to be able to. So you just listen to what the media and such tells you to do out of fear of not fitting in and thinking what everyone else thinks.--


Also, I have a nerd-related question...how come the people who spend hours in a cubical creating the video games are "nerds", but the people who play the video games are "cool".

I just don't get that part. The "cool" people should be thanking the "nerds" for making their precious video games.

Thank you I totally agree I am friends with what people would consider "nerds" And it's not fair! I love that they can do things so much better than anybody else. They can write 108 words in less than one minute..They have knowledge and are so independent that I think people who call them "nerds or geeks" Are ****s..Basically

Yup. 100% agree. :)