I’ll come out and say it, being a nerd is awesome. I get to be openly passionate about my favorite obscure pastimes and can bug my friends with rambling about my interests. Not only that, but the label itself allows me to embrace being weird. If I had a penny every time I’ve been called weird as a compliment, I would have two pennies. Which isn’t a lot, but it is weird that it happened twice. All in all, being a nerd has given me the freedom to dive into my interests with great passion, whether it be hiking or writing. With how awesome these benefits are, I find it saddening that people are so opposed to embracing their own innate nerdiness.
A major misunderstanding regarding being a nerd is that it is explicitly about being passionate about academics or technology, which I see as both limiting and blatantly untrue. Instead of that boring stereotype, I posit that a nerd is someone who is deeply passionate about their interests and isn’t afraid to show it. With how broad this category is, I believe that almost all of us have some nerdiness in us, whether it be channeled towards running or abstract algebra.
The high school landscape has changed drastically over the past decades, with Generation Z bringing their own unique culture to institutes of secondary education. While some of these changes have allowed for more peaceful and kind climates, such as the greater acceptance of students from minority groups, some changes have had some quite negative effects on students, chiefly the elimination of the ‘nerd’ as a social niche that can be filled. While other school subcultures remain largely untouched, such as the jock and the goth, the nerd subculture has split among some surprising lines, both of which seem to hold some mild animosity towards each other. The somewhat outcast group of nerds has split into the overachievers, who tend to be largely welcomed into the cultural mainstream of many schools, and the technology nerds, who still remain outcasts in most schools. In this, passion is divided and you face social ramifications if you don’t fall into the category deemed more acceptable.
While some may argue that nerds aren’t bullied anymore, at least as openly as before, I would like to point to some major parts of modern culture that are almost all about making being openly passionate about something a social ill. In recent years, we have had the slang term “yapping”, which is frequently used to describe someone that talks a lot, oftentimes about something obscure or of little interest to others. I’ve heard far too many kids prefacing talking about their interests with a disclaimer about how they were just “yapping”, as if it somehow invalidated their interests.
Similarly, cringe culture as a whole punishes people who openly express passion. For those who are blissfully ignorant of modern culture, cringe culture refers to the phenomenon of people being insulted for doing something harmless that is arbitrarily deemed as cringe. Needless to say, it isn’t often more mainstream hobbies such as athletics or fashion that are labeled as cringe. Oftentimes, it tends to be all the more niche stuff, such as rock collecting or writing fanfiction that are labelled as cringe, discouraging people from pursuing more obscure pastimes openly out of fear of appearing weird to others.
And here is where the magic of the nerd label comes into play, as by embracing it you are owning your own weirdness. Everyone is weird in their own unique ways, but embracing being a nerd allows you to wear it as a badge instead of a scarlet letter. I do not know about you, but I would much rather be weird for enjoying something than be weird just because Joe Schmoe in Math Class decided to pick on someone instead of finding x.
Embracing nerdiness not only shields you from negative social interactions, but also opens the door towards many positive social interactions. For instance, I have a friend that is really into the same obscure piece of media that I am and the inside jokes that we have are nothing less than awesome. One of us needs only to say a few words before we both burst into laughter. In a similar vein, being open about your interests makes it easier to make friends with those that have a common interest with you, allowing you to enjoy the wonder that is having a community around you. I’ve had entire conversations with complete strangers about the intricacies of writing before, and I cannot stress enough how easy it is to connect with someone that likes the same things as you.
Being a nerd is allowing yourself to be free from being judged for your passions. It is staring into the face of cringe and shrugging before going back about your business. In a culture that increasingly pressures everyone to conform, choose to be passionate about your interests. Choose to not abandon your interests and what makes you you. Choose to be a nerd.