Everyone wants to be a nerd now — here’s how to claim the title for yourself

Would you consider yourself a nerd? (Picture: Getty Images) ‘Can we talk about how you’re secretly a nerd?’ That was the question posed to none other than Kylie Jenner on a recent episode of the Better Half With Stas & Vic podcast. While billionaire Kylie, with her makeup empire and Hollywood actor boyfriend, doesn’t exactly scream ‘nerd’, she went onto discuss her love of video games, spending ‘days’ of her life playing Sims and Zelda. It’s a title that her older sister, Kendall, has also bestowed upon herself. The reality star and model has repeatedly claimed to be a ‘nerd’, revealing that she and her friends spend their evenings watching basketball, drinking wine and painting together, which is apparently very nerdy. While being a ‘nerd’ or ‘geek’ was once something that got you uninvited to parties at high school, these days, it’s cool. Call it the Seth Cohen effect, The Big Bang Theory theory, or maybe it’s thanks to the Stranger Things kids being D&D diehards and still defeating Vecna, but nerds are no longer social outcasts. Kendall Jenner has been criticised online for calling herself a nerd (Picture: Getty Images) Only, like all things, nerdiness comes on a spectrum. Let’s face it, there’s a big difference between supermodel Kendall (who lest we forget, once dated Bad Bunny), and the guy who wore a Star Trek badge to school. So, how do you know if you a real, true, 100% nerd? Well, I spoke some self proclaimed nerds, to find out. Being a nerd is a full-time job Ask Metro Use AI to go deeper into the stories you care about – powered by Metro and trusted publications. I quickly learnt that having a hobby is a requirement of nerdiness. James Bore, 43, loved computer systems, puzzles, and games from a young age. Now, he says ‘almost everything I do is related to my hobbies’ — including his job in cybersecurity. James, from Woking, tells Metro: ‘I used to programme when I was a kid — I still do now. ‘Back in the day I’d copy out transcripts of game code from magazines, because at the time we didn’t have discs to copy it off.’ James has been called a nerd most of his life, something he feels rather indifferent about. He simply loves to learn (Picture: supplied) A keen Dungeons & Dragons player, James also spends his weekends LARP-ing (live action role play) with friends. He’s also recently become fascinated by amateur butchery. ‘I’m interested in lots of different things. And naturally I just start thinking “I wonder what more there is to this” and it’ll make me want to dig deeper. ‘I just really enjoy learning’. A thirst for knowledge is also a must if you’d like to class yourself a ‘nerd’. Dennie Smith, 64, says she’s been a ‘teacher’s pet’ all her life, and loves to expand her knowledge. A ‘history nerd’ through and through, she’s particularly interested in military history, specifically the World Wars. ‘I’ll watch documentaries, read books, visit battlefields and museums and then happily talk about it all for hours!’ she tells Metro. Dennie’s passion extends well beyond herself. This year she launched Geek Meet Club, an app where members can date, befriend, and socialise with other nerds from their favourite fandoms. Dennie’s found great joy in helping connect nerds from all different fandoms (Picture: supplied) Desperate to share her ‘love for learning’, Dennie explains that the idea for the app came to her during a solo trip. ‘I met some amazing people on a tour and spent a week with people who were just as passionate about history and military stuff as I was. ‘I remember thinking, “Why don’t we have a community where people like us can find each other?” Especially as, at that point, I’d never really met another woman who was into the things I was. ‘Since launching the app, we’ve grown into a community with almost 30 geeky groups, from gaming and LEGO, to history and loads more’. Describing the modern-day nerd as ‘pretty cool’, Dennie adds that she ‘definitely thinks being a nerd is much more popular now than it was 10 or 20 years ago’. ‘People are much more comfortable owning what they love rather than hiding it because they’re worried about being judged.’ Geek Meet Club has also become an important space for neurodivergent nerds. ‘I think nerd communities can be particularly welcoming because, in my experience, they tend to be very non-judgmental. You can be yourself, talk passionately about what you love and not worry about being seen as a bit different. ‘Shared interests also take away some of the pressure of making conversation because you already have that common ground. For many neurodivergent people, I think that can make friendships, dating and simply feeling part of a community much easier.’ Would you consider yourself a nerd? I'm perhaps nerdish...?Check Finally, nerdy Jacob Simpson, 25, says being really committed to your discipline is prererequisite for nerdiness. You can’t just be into something, you’ve got to be really into something. ‘For example, I like watching football,’ Jacob tells Metro. ‘But there are some people who really get into understanding the niches of how everything within the game works. ‘They know the legal side of it, the exact rules, all of the players who played in the Premier League from 2001 up until 2016.’ For Jacob, while he loves model trains, taught himself to solve a Rubik’s cube in a weekend and knows a lot about Chernobyl, it’s airplanes he’s most loyal to. His passion for these ‘cool pieces of engineering’ goes beyond just a love of Microsoft Flight Simulator. Jacob might not identify with the word ‘nerd’, but his special interests are boundless (Picture: supplied) ‘I also have a spreadsheet of every flight I’ve ever been on, what side of the plane I’ve been on, left or right, and the flight time, just so I can see it all written down, and also the tail number,’ he shares. ‘It’s quite fun to know if you’ve ever flown on the exact same plane before. So, for example, easyJet probably has around 200 to 300 planes and I think I’ve flown on the same one at least a couple of times. ‘It’s always quite satisfying when you can check the spreadsheet and spot a trend. For example, you can look at it and think: “I flew from Gatwick to Hamburg on this exact aircraft two years ago”.’ But, while Jacob recognises a distinction between those he sees as pseudo-nerds, like Kendall and Kylie, and people who genuinely immerse themselves in their interests, there’s no need to make nerd-status ‘exclusive and limiting’. He adds: ‘People deserve to be passionate, it’s something that should be embraced by everyone.’ Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing MetroLifestyleTeam@metro.co.uk Arrow MORE: People are convinced this simple meal prep photo is a recipe for disaster Arrow MORE: Is it unprofessional to bring coffee to a job interview? Millennials and Gen X say so Arrow MORE: The ‘eyebrow-raising’ trend slowly taking over the UK’s biggest fast food chains