Portfolio #2

Smart, knowledgeable people pridefully call themselves geeks, but popular culture and media still use the word with a negative connotation. A recent definition of geek from the OED is “a person who is extremely devoted to and knowledgeable about computers or related technology”. As the writer OR the reader, the definition clearly doesn’t have a negative tone. The press likes to associate the term geek with being physically weak or oddballish. A great example of this is the TV show Beauty and the Geek, where geeks are viewed as “studious, yet having outsider status.”

The word geek is also often associated with males although it shouldn’t be based on the definition. It’s thought that tinkering with technology is more done by males, but girls use technology and own the name geek just as often. This includes not only gender, but also race, ethnicity, and class. “The fact that women are more likely to become computer scientists in Malaysia than in the United States does not necessarily mean it is easier for women to be geeks in Malaysia.” The term geek is best used in current times when people use it to describe themselves.

Wow. To begin, I just want to say that “My So-Called (Instagram) Life was one of the most inspiring pieces I’ve ever read. I felt that was it not only completely relatable to my own life, but also very relatable to the word geek. The first thought after reading this to most people would be that she is a total geek due to her use of technology. In my opinion, she is the opposite of a geek. Being a geek means that you are proud of your love for technology and studying. If Clara Dollar believed she was a geek she wouldn’t have written this piece. I think that the word geek intertwines very well with how online relationships and digital media interact, but I think it’s used by different definitions than the given ones.