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Why do computers make everything so much dorkier?

R

Rainsford

Lifer
Here's something I've been pondering for a while now. It seems like the opinion of many people, especially people on ATOT (how's that for irony?) think that when something has to do with computers it's instantly dorkier. Examples. Knowing a whole ton about football or cars and talking about it with your buddies is cool (or at least normal). Knowing a whole ton about computers and talking about it with your buddies is dorky. Talking with people in RL about relationship problems is perfectly normal. Talking about them with people online is dorky. And so on, I'm sure you all can think of lots of other examples on your own.

I'm not complaining, but I'm kind of curious about where this whole thing came from. And it can't be because computer people are dorky, because they are dorky because they are computer people. Sort of a chicken and egg problem. So what exactly is it about computers that makes things so much dorkier?
 
spending lots of time on computer makes your eyes worse which leads to glasses. People that use computers a lot are associated with kids that wear glasses, which for the longest time = nerd or dork. a=b=c thus a=c, or somehting like that 🙂
 
Well, who ever call you a dork online for doing that stuff online is a dork to begin with.

Accept your dorkiness and move on.
 
Because computers are highly complex machines that most people outside of the industry found them difficult to understand and were intimidated by them. So those who understood them were in an elite group and considered dorks by everyone else.

These days, however, some of that stigmatizim seems to be falling off as the use of computers becomes more a part of the average persons life. There's now a certain hipness to being knowledgable of computers and the Internet as it's becoming more mainstream. Although, those in the industry still carry that dork stigmatizim because they are still working with stuff that even the hippest computer user doesn't need to understand in order to use the computer.
 
Major generalizations here, but a whole lot of people who are into computers and related things are a tad bit on the non social side. That makes things dorky.

Although I do kind of agree with you. Why is working on cars (as a hobby) considered cooler then working on computers?
 
You make a good point. People would maybe call me a dork for being into computers but I have absolutely no interest when people are talking about sports, so there! 🙂
 
Originally posted by: Stratum9
Because computers are highly complex machines that most people outside of the industry found them difficult to understand and were intimidated by them. So those who understood them were in an elite group and considered dorks by everyone else. These days, however, some of that stigmatizim seems to be falling off as the use of computers becomes more a part of the average persons life. There's now a certain hipness to being knowledgable of computers and the Internet as it's becoming more mainstream. Although, those in the industry still carry that dork stigmatizim because they are still working with stuff that even the hippest computer user doesn't need to understand in order to use the computer.
Click to expand...

Haha...he said stigmatizim
 
Originally posted by: Zugzwang152
i am a geek, not a dork, thank you very much 😛
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Yeah I second that, I don't think the term geek is that bad, i'm sure there are those that are geekier but i'm certain theres a little geekiness in everyone at anandtech...not a bad thing I feel...Geek general goes hand in hand with a decent IQ
 
Here is something else I want to know. Why is playing games like Madden 2002, and NFL 2K3 considered cool and manly, while playing games like Starcraft and WC3 is considered dorky and uncool?
 
It's b/c online you can say more of what you're really thinking. People never want to hear that crap they're being fed, but they wouldn't admit that in RL. However, even in RL nobody wants to be a PC junkie even if they are. Online, they don't need to hide their inner thoughts about such things as computers b/c there's no judgment.
 
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