Always a treat to read your musings! I have a few steemians who I will specifically check their page to see if I’ve missed a post in my feed and I think your name will start going on the list!
I have had similar urges to reject things out of nothing more than a desire to buck the mainstream. It’s the entire reason why I never read Harry Potter, for example. I can relate to your impulse, but also to your desire to learn. You’re right - there really is no excuse not to be educated about something when Google is a few taps away.
Interesting that you pose this as a “generational shift” type thing. When I was in junior and senior high (late 90s/early 00s) I still felt tremendous pressure to “fit in”. I wonder if it is shifting now.
Your post also reminds me of a line from my favorite poet:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
I’ll leave you with this: sometimes when I eat many potato chips, I too suffer from the evils of palm oil.
Upon reading your reply, I was (am) distinctly humbled by your opening paragraph, and then promptly found myself in peals of laughter, propping myself against a desk at your parting statement. Thank you for both sentiments!
I get that sometimes 'bucking the trend' is 'addictive', however, I fell victim to the juggernaut of HP, so kudos for not jumping on that train. I just feel, as you put it, the urge, to not do what is expected. I'm not sure if it is spite, for fun, or just too see how the expectant party will react.
When I was about 14 Mum asked me to go to the shops to purchase some toilet paper. She wanted the 'biggest' packet, which at the time was 6 or 9 rolls, I can't quite remember which one. Nothing like the mega 30 packs (or whatever size they're up to now!) that we can buy today. Anyway, I thought I'd try something a little different, so armed with the toilet paper, I went to the checkout with this and a box of laxatives - nothing else. The girl on checkout looked at me oddly and I just said, 'Bad week!', paid and left. I'm not too sure how she took it.
I still am not really sure if there has been as much of a shift in regard to fitting in in high school. It just feels that it has. I'd be inclined to say that the pressure is still there, and I know that there can be harassment towards students who are deemed different.
Hah, glad I could make your morning a bit brighter and full of laughter!
Another observation, especially if you're seen 21 Jump Street. Some 30 year old cops go undercover in a high school to try and bust a drug ring, and there is a running joke that the nerdy cop (Jonah Hill) who was an outcast when he was in high school actually find himself in the cool kids group, while the one-time popular jock (Channing Tatum) finds himself part of the unpopular kids. There was still pressure to "fit in", but the pressure was to fit in to a different kind of crowd in 2015 vs 2000. Maybe that's all it is - pressure to conform is still there, but the mold is shaped differently than it was before?
That's an astute observation, and one that is probably quite accurate. Today coders, program developers, and what would have been described as 'nerds' 30 years ago are now held in much higher regard.