Why are you a nerd?

[Cowabungaa]

I reckon I became a nerd thanks to my dad's Storm comics he had for some reason (and he's not even a nerd), and seeing Star Wars: The Phantom Menace at a very young age. Having a love for science since, well, pretty much birth helped as well.

As for why in the other sense of the word, I dunno, I like what I like, whether that gives me the label nerd or geek or anything really. I have other interests beside geeky one's y'know.

 

[BreakfastMan]

My parents never liked sports, and neither did I. My mother loves science fiction (she adores the Dune series and Star Trek), and instilled a love of the stuff at a young age. Both of those are probably the biggest contributing factors, but my recently developed social awkwardness helps too.

 

[DigitalAtlas]

I'm a geek, tyvm

 

[Viral_Lola]

Because I'm not athletic enough to do sports?

 

[SerpentsLairStudios]

What made me a nerd is multiple personality and mental disorders and syndromes pretty much making me a live in my bedroom type of kid so all i did was play video games. Now I am a record producer and a complete audiophile nerd and I still find time to play some Magic The Gathering haha.

 

[Lordmarkus]

I'm sure there are some people on here who aren't nerds, but the majority of you presumably are. So, what made you pick up a game controller rather than a football and stick with it? I'm sure everyone's got some kind of story about why they'd rather nerd-it-up than do anything else.

How's that for a sucky generalization, eh?

I picked up on games and football at the same time and I still love both. I play the guitar and I find talking to people easy and one of the best things to do when you get the conversation flowing.

However my thirst for knowledge that aren't considered commonplace are what pushes it. If I get interested in something, I really need to get all the details down, right to the core. Fallout canon? check Singularity? check Music-history? check Internet memes? check Computers? check Black holes? check The modern history of the entire world, specified to the 20th century, its causes, outcomes and influence? fuckin' checked.

'Cause i mentally dissect and over-analyze everything. I don't care for activities that provide insufficient mental stimulation. Thus i enjoy listening to music, reading, and playing story-driven games. The only sport i really enjoy is American Football, due to the strategy involved. I don't like getting drunk and "partying". That's not to say i dislike socialization or that i am opposed to alcohol, because i love a good beer and good company; i just like to function properly while doing so.

Hey, an internet soulmate!

 

[martin's a madman]

Because science is interesting, and if you don't agree you can fuck off.

-Lead guy dude from New Scientist.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

It's just the way of life I picked? I don't know. It seemed like fun, sports were never my forte and I've always been a gamer/techish guy.

 

[Simeon Ivanov]

You're socially awkward so you spend your time in front of a computer screen?

I find fictional pieces of pixel to be more interesting than most people in my social life.

 

[Brutal Peanut]

Technically, I'm a geek. I am not academically inclined. While I enjoy learning things and can retain an above average amount of information, it's not something I go out of my way to do. My hobbies are reading Fantasy and Historical Fiction, gaming and collecting video game paraphernalia that goes with the games I enjoy. Why? Because it's something that I enjoy, a lot. If I didn't enjoy it, I wouldn't do it. I've always been drawn to Fantasy worlds. Worlds completely out of the norm and gaming allows me to immerse myself in that world, if only for a few hours.

However, my spouse would be what most would consider a 'nerd'. Yes, he plays games, but he also finds science fascinating and is fairly good at Math. He loves Gemology and can spend hours in the Minerals Room, staring at geodes, at our Natural History Museum. He's also an Electrician and finds electrical currents interesting. He's the type of person who will read the entire manual first.

 

[Dags90]

My smug sense of superiority is a large part of it, as I believe is the case for most people who voluntarily associate with insular social groups.

Yeah, I've been watching a lot of Popular lately.

 

[Keela]

I was born into it. My dad was a huge sci-fi and fantasy geek and was a pro with computers. My mom hates all of the above, but being a guy, I looked more to my dad as a role model. I got into games when I was 3 or 4 years old, when I got my Nintendo 64. I played sports for a while, and was really good at them too, but due to the extremely low pain tolerance I had, I stopped around the age of 10. I have always been really heavy on the games, but puberty has completely screwed my focus in school and general attention span, and my motivation is now shot. In addition, I get sick easily, and when I say sick, I mean SICK. I can be out of school for almost a week from effing allergies, and what better to do when I'm sick than play video games?

Also, I was a HUGE Pokemon kid, which led to a greater interest in anime.

And while I do pretty damn well for myself socially, I don't really grow very attached to people, which means more time alone rather than with friends.

 

[SeriousIssues]

Some people are just born that way.
I spent most of the first half of my childhood locked inside playing games. Then I was branching out to sports and such while still playing games.
I dunno, really.

 

[Grabbin Keelz]

Well I do have the universal discrimination of nerds. That's right, I live in my parent's basement, also no girlfriend.

 

[PowerC]

Because being "cool" has no place in modern society.

agreed, why the hell would you want to be a horribly mainstream and unintelligent jock?

 

[Hollock]

because I stopped worrying whether something was too nerdy or not and at least give things tries, and learned that I like most nerdy things.

 

[Hoplon]

The massive amounts of pussy it gets me.

 

[gritch]

I was not blessed with the greatest looks nor a great aptitude toward social interactions (though I'd like to point out I am getting better). I had this habit of asking the oddest questions as a small child - questions that tended to alienate me from the rest of my peers. Add into that no physically ambitions and a knack for Science and Math and you have yourself a well constructed nerd.

 

[Brandon237]

Because I AM!

It may also have something to do with the fact that I am very mathematically inclined, I Have always done well at and taken an interest in maths and learn things quite easily. I pay attention in school, which I did NOT know was so rare these days O.O I also love IT, although I have only be doing it for 2 terms people are already calling me a Delphi[footnote]I know, absolute crap programming language to start with, but I plan on learning some Java next year, and then a Little bit of a C variant in / after matric[/footnote] genius.

And I like to use unnecessarily long and complicated words when I speak, most likely due to that superiority complex that lingers in my subconscious self, Damn that thing!

I am geek due to my gaming and obsession with GIMP and to a lesser extent, Star Wars, both of which can be seen in my avatar. And the pyromania may not seem like a geeky (or psychopathic) thing, but when I start actually designing Caesium-containing bullets that blow people up and make pyrotechnic displays as they split into a person's moist flesh in class, it gets a little different...

 

[GeorgW]

I'm born into it. It's in my genes. My whole family are nerds.
I love being a nerd, we're awesome.