While this is relative to an extent, these are the common factors I see in hobbies, interests, etc which tend to be perceived as stereo-typically "nerdy" or "unpopular" by the general public:
1. Lack of visual appeal - The rule seems to be that things which aren't visually appealing or "easy on the eye" seem to be perceived this way; for example watching a football game, versus reading a physics paper. Things which are "reductive", "abstract" or "broken down into parts" seem to have this theme.
2. Harder to understand or relate to - I think that things which have harder initial learning curve or which are just so obscure that most people don't understand their cultural relevance; for example while being a football buff might require a lot of learning and statistics, simply being able to watch and understand a game isn't that hard, but even being able to discuss physics on an entry level requires a lot more learning (in my opinion).
3. Overly "childish" - Even though this is a generalization, I think that having hobbies which are perceived as "childish" (e.x. comic books) are sometimes associated with emotional immaturity.
Of course this is subjective (e.x. comic book and fantasy characters aren't considered as "dorky" today as they once were due to the popularity of the Marvel films, Harry Potter, LOTR, Game of Thrones, etc).
Likewise ultimately a person's overall personality has more to do with how they're perceived than just what their hobbies are (e.x. a guy who's hobby is competitive video gaming but is mature, intelligent and well-rounded seems a lot more interesting a person, than some loser who lives in his mom's basement and watches MMA all day just to seem "macho").
02 Oct 2016, 10:01 pm
