What do normal people do?

[chaoadventures]

Let's say you aren't a nerd that plays video games or like, watches cartoons of varying seriousness or something. What can you do with your free time?

(Yes, I am so far down the rabbit hole this is a question.)

[Nano]

I go to work, school, watch the news sometimes, enjoy a nice rest, listen to music, etc.

Reading is also a something people do, though I hate doing so cause it puts me to sleep.

[Lamby]

playing video games stopped being a nerd stereotype before you were born

music, hang out with friends, see a show/concert, go get food, flirt, read, write, catch the news and science news, politics, do a goth art/poetry tumblr, pay bills, gossip

these probably don't apply to you but: shopping for cute clothes, skirts, cat collars to wear, make up, fingernail polish, perfumes, basically dolling up and vanity maintenance, i take too many selfies because i'm a basic *****. usually i'm pretty pastel but do goth fashion occasionally

also pets, i adore all rodents so i always have a couple different ones, they're fun, also i'm obsessed with horror (b horror or otherwise) and macabre, satanic art is also cool to look at, i like going to like places that are supposedly creepy because the aesthetics are fun, also writing romance, piercings and tattoos tho it's nothing regular i'm just gonna go for a navel piercing ... i guess you can't actually be allowed to do some of this, i'm 23 and i'm allowed to be a dumb diva

[Rajikaru]

Normal people (and not the normal people you think you're talking about) don't say things like "w'ere nerds lol xD i wonder what normal people do whateves were wayyy different lmao xD"

[Crazo3077]

Normal is what you make of it, man. By that I mean that the more time you spend getting to know people, the more you're going to find the idea of "normal" applies to very few things.

I spend a lot of my time working, and did spend plenty of it attending university before I graduated. Sometimes I write or outline ideas in my free time, sometimes I watch anime or other shows, and sometimes I just hang out with people. When I was your age, though, I spent a lot of time on MMORPGs and playing console games and only really saw friends at school, maybe making plans for outside of school, but I had plenty of friends online.

Do what sounds interesting to you. Learn an instrument. Read books. Create something of your own. Plenty of options. Just gotta take an interest.

And use emoticons if you want. Don't let people shame you. xP

[ZipoCXG]

When I'm not being a nerd, I usually just stare at the wall and internally rant.

Exciting stuff.

[chaoadventures]

@Raji: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3D5tkAUNFa4

This is a genuine question that I've had for months, never mind you, and I currently feel the need to branch out a bit in what I do, so I finally asked it.
I see nothing wrong with using proper grammar while referring solely to me simultaneously lacking internet abbreviations and asking a relatively simple question to those who might know.



This is in General Discussion for a reason.

@Everyone else: This is actually very helpful to me. Thank you.

[Tsui]

There is no need to be rude guys :I

as for OP: I spend my time drawing and playing video games and just goofing around on the internet all day so I can't say. Also I haven't talked to anyone irl that I can consider possibly a friend in like, over a year I think.
I really can't imagine myself doing much else since I don't go to school or work. Maybe I'd focus on painting traditionally instead of digitally. Who knows?

[Flame]

playing video games stopped being a nerd stereotype before you were born

I disagree, it depends on where you are. People play games in hushed tones in the earlier years of school that you go to, it's pretty much known that people do play them but if you outright talk about it you're pretty much generally seen as a "nerd". It's only when you get older that people stop caring. The "cool kids" play sports.

As for OP... sports, partying, nightlife, work, etc.

The average guy's fun tends to be partying and socialising with a lot of people. At least, that's the impression I get. I'm not exactly detached from "normality" in the way that you define it (not by a long shot) but I don't engage in a lot of things like that. It just isn't my thing. Still, the number of people that I see and know doing it from almost all adult age groups is immense.

[Jeffery Mewtamer]

I'm pretty sure most, if not all, of the behaviors that make up the nerd stereotype are within two standard deviations of average.

To help put that in context, for a normal distribution:
Mean(average), median(middle), and mode(most common) values for whatever trait your looking at are all equal.
68% of the population lie within one standard deviation of average.
95% of the population lie within 2 standard deviations of average.
Being more than 2 standard deviations above or below average is usually the minimal threshold for being a statistical outlier, though some contexts require even stronger deviance.

To give a concrete example, let's look at IQ:
IQ scores are almost always normalized to a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15 or 16.
An IQ one standard deviation above average(115/116 or higher) has traditionally been considered gifted.
An IQ 2 standard deviations above average(130/132 or above) has traditionally been considered Genius-level.
An IQ two standard deviations below average(70/68 or lower) use to be the primary criterion for a clinical diagnosis of mental retardation.

Applying this standard of normal to the social structure of the stereotypical high school, unless we're talking a very large school(say >1000 students), any set of behaviors common enough to form a proper clique isn't rare enough to fall outside this 95% centered around average.

At the opposite extreme, where you try to define normal by aggregating the expectations the most vocal have of other people, either you can't arrive at a consistent definition, or you arrive at something so narrow that almost no one fits.

In short: Either almost everyone is normal, or almost no one is normal according to the two most common ways of defining normal, and given the tendency towards polarizing people have when it comes to opinions, any attempt to form a middle ground is likely doomed to failure.

Anyways, as has been said above, Video Games have long since broken into the mainstream. Hell, the "dudebros" stereotype is about as anti-nerd as you can get, yet playing video games(specifically Xbox) is one of the stereotype's defining characteristics, or at least, that's my understanding. Speaking more generally, the Internet has, in my lifetime, transformed from something only nerds, academics, and the military used to something that almost literally everyone and their grandmother uses(Facebookers almost outnumber the Chinese and smartphones outnumber the human race for crying out loud! and these figures are from before I went blind!).

If anything, reading actual, ink on paper, books of significant length is probably a nerdier pastime than playing video games or surfing the net.

As for television, I'm not convinced there's really that much difference, content wise, between animated and live-action shows except that some genres are more easily found among live-action without looking at imports(For example, if we look at the genre of crime dramas, Detective Conan is the only animated example I can think of involving crime scene investigation or murder mysteries on a regular basis, and the Phoenix Wright anime is the only example of an animated courtroom drama I'm aware of).

[Crazo3077]

playing video games stopped being a nerd stereotype before you were born

I disagree, it depends on where you are. People play games in hushed tones in the earlier years of school that you go to, it's pretty much known that people do play them but if you outright talk about it you're pretty much generally seen as a "nerd". It's only when you get older that people stop caring. The "cool kids" play sports.

I actually do want to boost up this particular claim, specifically the "earlier years of school" part.

Even into high school, regardless of how many peers are playing games, the amount who are vocal will definitely vary from place to place. I'd say we're at a peak with someone's ability to advertise that they're into video games, but now it has turned into a matter similar to style or fashion: what games are you into and how do you show it? I can definitely see the attitudes of two high school freshman who play different games, say one plays Call of Duty and the other plays Minecraft, and imagine both having animosity towards each other for their interest. What we've seen is a change from "being a nerd is bad" to "being a particular type of nerd is bad".

These days, though, beyond high school, at worst you have people who discredit people that play video games as immature, but various types of immature. The stereotype is less standard and more diverse to the point of it fading away. And there is a way to be seen as mature and still have time for childish things, but that definitely is still an idea that is growing more than well rooted.

[BTC4]

they go to target and walk around aimlessly to kill time, performing the same tasks over and over. Nobody notices it.

[dustyoni]

If I'm not doing anything pertaining to my geekier hobbies I am eating, sleeping, bathing, cleaning, taking care of the pets, taking care of misc. chores, or I'm out with my husband or a friend (typically talking about geeky stuff or doing something geeky), etc. I think a lot of people who aren't into video games/animation/etc. are into kinda keeping up with sports, moderate fitness, and heavy socializing? I'm not too sure, since any people I willingly associate with are geeks as well. I assume it's pretty typical stuff, just like you or I!... Just with less hobby-time?

[i dont kno whats tha]

im normall so u can ask me

[Coty]

Everything nerds do but a lamer version. Browse facebook instead of reddit. Post crappy memes about "ssssooo true" and " I in ❤❤❤ with this" watch lame dramas and sports, play stupid sports games and CoD all day. Go to stores but instead of looking at movies and games and posters/figurines that don't suck they look for clothes and craptastic movies and motivational posters or posters that show that they are proud of there crappy football teem or something.

And of course, are pretty much the cause of cancer on my facebook.