Have Geeks Gone Mainstream?

An anonymous reader asks: "Recently, I've been seeing more and more news stories about how 'geek' has gone mainstream. There have been a slew of articles with titles like Geek Pride and Geek Chic, which discuss how movies like 'The 40-Year Old Virgin' and 'Napoleon Dynamite', as well as television shows like 'Beauty and the Geek' have made it cool to be a geek. Two pinup calendars of geeks have been released this year, taking advantage of the new mainstream interest in all things geeky. These include the Geek Gorgeous Calendar, which features women who work in the hi-tech industry, and the Girls of Geekdom Calendar, which includes geeks like 'Art Geek' and 'Movie Geek'. So if being a geek has really become cool, why has interest in CS as a major dropped among incoming freshmen and women are still a minority in computer and engineering fields? Is it cooler to pretend to be a geek (wear 'Save Pedro' shirts, etc.) than to really be one?"

Whether you're a geek or not...

[jmcmunn]

Wearing a "Save Pedro" shirt isn't cool anymore. My youngest brother is in highschool, and probably three quarters of his friends have (and regularly wear) these shirts. When a "fashion" has made it to high school it's no longer cool.

It's better to watch stuff, than to do stuff.

[taylor_venable]

It takes a lot of work to be a "geek" in any real sense of the word. Learning the ins and outs of math/science/technology/whatever requires time and commitment, which most people can't (or won't) afford. So why go through all the hassle when you can just pretend you're "down with it" and join the crowd. It's just like any other cultural trend: take (more modern) rap music for example. Not everybody can rap like P. Diddy, but if you wear his clothes and represent yourself as if you were part of his culture, you too can become cool.

The smell

[TEMM]

University of Victoria in BC, Canada did a survey among their female computer science students to find out why it isnt popular among women. It must be pointed out that UVic has a 30% female CS student population, and are shooting for 50%. The number one reason given in this survey was girls dont like CS because the classrooms and labs smell. Not surprising, since it seems that CS students personal hygiene skills are more lacking then their social skills. Sometimes it is to the point where Im ashamed to call some of these people my colleagues.

Geek is a fad | CS isn't the only way to go

[ITchix0r]

"Geek" in the mainstream is just a fad. Geek as many of you know it, can refers to the poor skinny white kid with glasses who have a hard time ever get any. What's the difference between something like The Real World (real show on MTV) or like Geeks in a Basement (something I just made up). It just exposes us to something that we're not normally accustomed to seeing, that's all. Isn't the reason why we watch tv? To be in our own fantasy world or to laugh at others?

Having a degree in computer science isn't necessarily the only way to get a computer related job when one graduates college. At my school, there are other computer related majors such as information studies (IS) and management information systems (MIS), which have different roots. I am a female MIS major at my school. The ratio of males to females in my major classes is around 60/40.

I could be a programmer when I graduate, though someone with a degree in CS would typically be more equipped to be able to do a better job than I am. I think most of the MIS girls here are going to be the project manager types as opposed to computar geeks (me). Most of the guys I know who drop out of CS go to IS or MIS (they mostly go IS because it has less prereqs).

Re:No, but...

[Omestes]

This might be because of two definitions of the word geek. One is the socially bad one, of a some smart, but socially annoying guy hiding in his parents basement. The other, good definition is that of a generally tech savvy individual with wide reaching interests, and a short attention span for various forms of knowlege (grokk everything, and move on). The later is okay now, whereas before we were creepy.

Really, its sort of like saying "Yeah I hacked my box", where the non-geek will take it as what we take to mean "skr1ptk1dd13" crap, when we actually mean, "it didn't work right, so I rewrote my OS" We're so used to talking to ourselves, that we forget that people use these words differently in the real (non /., non serverfarm) world.

Also, who said you have to be a techie to be a geek? I'm a philosophy geek first, and technology comes second. I think tech is just the primary obsession of geeks since it's easier to tweak/hack/control.

Geek interests

[phorm]

Well, the thing is... most geeks I know really wouldn't be interested in doing coke off of hookers' tits. Rather, they'd probably be looking for girls that like to talk (about non lame things), play games, or various other not-necessarily-that-geeky but geek-interesting activities.

Others would probably just be happy to have a woman look at them. You can pull the slashdot stereotype but there really are many varieties of geek.

Re:The Girls of Geekdom's "Computer Geek"

[localman]

under-developed (read:adolescent) sexual identity

Maybe I'm being defensive here, but as someone who identifies as a geek, I don't believe that geeks have to be sexually inept or oblivious. For heaven's sake, i've got geek friends who swing. I'm a geek, I dance funny, but I know my way around.

I agree that geek won't go mainstream, though. A watered down co-op version will, and then it will die out. But being a geek means truly enjoying and exploring your intellectual abilities, something that you either do or don't naturally.

Cheers.

Posers!

[Bushido Hacks]

First it was the hip hop crowd, then the punks, then the goths, now geeks have a poser problem. Unilike the other cliques, the geek culture can easily weed out the posers from the real deal with simplicity. A real geek loves to fiddle around with math equations in his spare time. A poser geek dreads the though of anything that involves mathematics or science. A real geek is way too busy with some analytical project to think about women. A poser geek is way too busy trying to look geeky so he can get women. A real geek has some sort of hobby that they learned about on the Internet (i.e.: HAM Radio). A poser geek has some sort of hobby that they learned about from Television. (i.e.: Yu-gi-oh/Pokemon Trading cards.) There are othe quality, but those seem to be the top three signs.

Re:perhaps...

[CsiDano]

I honestly didn't understand, I hated that movie, that guy wasn't a geek, he was a retard. But I guess whatever you like right? I always see this restaurant commercial on tv where the idiot does his impression of napoleon asking for a sub. Oh well. On to good news, Superman movie!!! Comming out on June 29th 2006. Sweet.

Re:Napoleon Dynamite?

[Anonymous Coward]

Especially since geeks aren't losers at all. Dorks are a different story, but that's for a different time and a different post. Geeks, and nerds for that matter, are by definition of above average intelligence, and generally have acknowledged that personal appearance is not as important as general knowledge. Thus, clothing style is (or I should say has been in the past) categorized as the sweater vest/glasses/ugly sneakers motif, and that has indeed become a trend. Furthermore, technology is becoming more important in one's everyday life, so everyone has sort of elevated their geek status over the past, I don't know, 10 years.

Movies like Napoleon Dynamite only aid this by exploiting stereotypes with offbeat humor, making something mainstream-accessible with a hint of geekiness. This combination of factors accounts for the current obsession with nerds.

Fuck it. I could go on for days.

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

The difference...

[Now.Imperfect]

I figure a geek is osmeone who can understand technology rather than use technology.

The "mainstream" geek now is someone who collects "gadgets" or buys alienwares highend system and likes to rattle off whats inside but couldn't actually build it himself.
Perhaps he can install windows or fedora. But he probably can't install gentoo.
He can build a website with dreamweaver, or frontpage, and he knows HTML, but if you gave him VI he wouldn't really know where to start.

The difference between a "mainstream geek" and a real geek, is the real geek understands whats behind what he does. If he doesn't know something he can probably figure it out because he's familiar with the inner workings of somethign familiar.

Mozart vs Brittney Spears is the best analogy I can think of.

True, but what if... ?

[kale77in]

What if the mains were going geekstream? Chickens be damned, I say!

Re:Is it cool to pretend to be a geek?

[Milton Waddams]

I'd have to disagree with ye there bug. Geek in the dictionary is defined as "an unfashionable or socially inept person" or "a person with an eccentric devotion to a particular interest". Just because someone is interested in computers or whatever, or works in the field of computers, it doesn't automatically mean that they have an "eccentric devotion" to computers. Geeks are easy to point out and there are no exceptions to this. If someone dresses in fashionable clothes and does not completely lack social skills, then they are, by definition, not a geek.

I was an ERASMUS student last year and the thing that I found most startling was that you could usually tell within a minute or two's conversation with an American student what they studied. You could speak to a student from anywhere else in the world for hours on end and, unless you asked them what they studied, you wouldn't have a clue as to what they study. In fact, when I got to know various people, I kept on forgetting what they studied but I never forgot what the Americans studied. It was as if the American students had a big badge on their chest, proclaiming what they studied.

Whatever American students choose what their major is, they seem to automatically gain an eccentric devotion to it. I wonder if this is because tuition fees are so high that they feel they should have a big interest in whatever they're spending so much money on. Or maybe they feel that whatever career they take, defines them. Americans seem to have a different work ethic than the Irish. Most of us think that our job is just something that gets us money and if it's something that we like doing, well that's a little bonus.

Anyway, to get back to the point, Geeks by definition are definitely not cool. The 'mainstream' only uses them from time to time because they provide a wealth of comic material. Of course, labelling someone a geek is completely subjective. People may say that I'm a geek because I am studying a computer degree and I read Slashdot daily. Other people may think that I am decidedly not a geek because I drink a lot and have a good time when I go out and I'm a pretty sociable person.

Re:INterst has dropped

[baadger]

I was in the final year at my college that had the opportunity to do any decent Computing (Computer Science). The year I left the teacher (who was in his 40's and had spent over two decades as a programmer) left, due to health reasons, and was replaced by a French teacher with minimal 'qualifications' in VB (We had done Pascal and Delphi).

In the second year there were only six of us. Meanwhile the IT course, which was essentially just excel spreadsheets and report writing, was packed out with too many people for the teacher to handle and the class had to be split.

The parent's point is one of the problems with the computing field, many people can't even distinguish between 'office worker who uses a computer' and the actual science behind computing, either that or they can and they're just not interested. Maybe they're under the false impression that every job out there requires intimate knowledge of Microsoft Excel? I mean they 'made' a frickin till system in excel for Christ's sake (with no real programming, just excel formulae)!

GET REAL!!!!

[superwiz]

No society can ignore its most competent people for too long. For way too long we've been looking down on the people who are genuily dedicated to what they do. This sounds like a "management" word -- I know. But geek is really a term used for people who love what they do and who are good at it. Naturally they are very competent. This is almost darwinian. If a society persistantly ignores the merit of the most accomplished it is headed for destruction. Maybe we are finally waking up from this nihilism?

CS down, but what about other "geek" majors?

[walterbyrd]

Maybe, as tech becomes more speciallized, people are going into related majors such as software engineering, or information technology?

I have no idea myself.

Re:Whether you're a geek or not...

[Eli Gottlieb]

Excuse me, but I don't think Napoleon Dynamite qualifies as a geek. He was just a pathetic and sad loser who happened entertain his pathetic and sad high school by dancing.

Badly drawing imaginary animals doesn't him a geek since the evidence shows he really had nothing better to do. He was just a nerd.

Geek, Nerd - 4 letter words akin to Nigger for me

[ckedge]

.

And I think the rest of you are a bunch of Uncle Tom type loosers to have "adopted" the words yourselves.

When I was young these were words used to denigrate me, make me feel like less of a human being. When other people who would not use those terms to describe themselves - use those terms to describe others - it is NOT complimentary. It is "ooooh look at that strange stupid silly ugly cute thing." It's not quite as vindictivly used as when they were young and immature, but they might as well be saying "OOOH LOOK AT THAT FAT CHICK".

I am not a strange animal to be leered at, made fun of, or ostracised. I am a human being capable of doing some things that most people are not as comfortable doing - and that's it.

I'm a techie. I'm not just another human being, I'm better than they are. But I'm not going to hold it against them. So life didn't deal them the brains or experience to deal with technical things. Big deal.

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