Happy Geek Pride Day!
The annual celebration of all things geek is today, Saturday, May 25. Time to hoist your freak flag high and proud, dust off those action figures and teach your children how to defend your home against orcs, siths, Klingons and other baddies.
Meanwhile, a recent Geek Pride Day Survey was conducted by Modis IT Staffing. And the findings are telling, and in some cases, chuckle-worthy — but not as hilarious geeks think they are.
In one of the survey’s findings, geeks think they are funnier than they really are. “Seventy-four percent of self-described geeks say they think geeks are funny,” the survey said, “compared to only 53 percent of non-geeks.”
Really? You mean not so many non-geeks get my jokes? (Example: How many quarters does it take to play the new Lord of the Rings pinball game? None. It only takes Tolkiens.) OK, tell me something I don’t know.
Modis surveyed over 1,000 adult Americans (aged 18+) and asked a bunch of questions about their geeky predilections. Here’s one surprising finding: Apparently the majority of geeks do not “sneak their geek.” Modis found that 87 percent of the general population do not “hide their personal or embarrassing interests.”
“In fact, most Americans would NOT hide ‘geeky’ items if they were trying to impress someone,” the survey said. “Sixty-five percent of respondents say that if they were trying to impress someone, they would take pride in their ‘geek’ toys (i.e. stuffed animals and action figures), 90 percent say they would be proud of their books and comic books, and a surprising 65 percent would be proud of their superhero or cartoon character clothing, including pajamas.” These percentages include non geeks.
Wow. What about my Spider-Man Underoos? Geeks have come a long way.
Still, of those who do hide their nerdiness (13 percent of those surveyed), most keep that a secret from their neighbors (72 percent) and co-workers (70 percent). Fear of being outed as a geek to casual acquaintances remains an issue, apparently.
Overall, Americans’ perception of geeks continues to improve. Seventy-six percent of the general public considers geeks to be “hard working” and 58 percent say geeks are “confident.” Not only that, “more than half (58 percent) of Americans define geeks as extremely intelligent -? a 13 percentage point increase since Modis’ Geek Pride Survey in 2011!” And “Sixty-eight percent (68 percent) of all respondents say they would date a geek!” (Note: those are the survey’s exclamation marks, not mine.)
In the Not-So-Shocking Department, a majority of geeks say they “Can’t live without technology” and are more likely to say this than those who do not self-identfy as geeks.
Geeks also do better as members of the workforce. Seventy percent of those who self-identify as geeks are employed, vs. 54 percent of non-geeks. Although those numbers don’t quite add up since the national unemployment rate hovers between 7 and 8 percent.
This next stat is also curious: 62 percent of geeks “define a ‘geek’ as someone who is influential, an association not necessarily shared by non?geeks (30 percent.)” Huh. I had no idea people thought I was influential, let alone had friends.
And finally, despite relatively successful Geek Civil Rights advances in recent years, “some less complimentary associations for geeks” still exist. Namely, 69 percent of respondents (geeks and non-geeks alike) think of geeks as awkward, and only 34 percent think of geeks as “good looking.” On the plus side, 76 percent see geeks as “hard working”; 67 percent see them as “loyal” and 69 percent see them as “confident.”
And geeks get dates: “A majority say they would date a geek.”
The Modis Geek Pride Day 2013 Survey is “a fun way to joint the geek pride conversation every May 25th,” according to Jordan Drake, Senior Media Specialist at Kethcum, which works with Modis, an IT Staffing company. “To celebrate National Geek Pride Day, Modis has begun conducting these geek pride surveys as and in effect raise their own geek banner.”
You geeks can drill down more deeply into the data here.
Now geek up, geek off and geek out!
Um, did you mean May 25 instead of March 25?
oops. you’re right. thanks for the catch