Life is NOT High School

New York Magazine is reporting about a new study. The study, sadly titled "Popularity," reports that how popular you were in high school actually does affect your success in later life. 

My ass it does. 

Why would this study, which was probably done by nerds, crush all of my dreams about the socially conscious, academia-loving nerds taking over the world one by one in a collective rage against popular society for abandoning them in their formative years? WHY?

Good news is the way the study measures success is purely by economic standards. And in a way that makes sense -- people who were popular in high school probably got a nice head start on the whole networking thing, which is probably useful in business. (No worries, FBombers, I conferred with my Dad who has actually worked in the world of business. He has confirmed networking is important. And that business is a popularity contest in a lot of ways. How uplifting.) Also, if you have trouble communicating with other people, you're probably not going to convince your boss to give you that promotion. 

But wtf economic success is not life success. There are many different ways to be successful. And besides, it is very possible to be rich and unhappy. I'd rather be blissfully immersed in geekdom than be wildly popular whilst still feeling unfulfilled. Yes I would.

So hang on, geekfriends. The world is your oyster despite what a study might tell you. 

And I'm sorry but who the hell paid for this study anyway? Why would anyone give money to find out something as completely useless and depressing as this when there are real problems in the world?