The weird thing about us progeeks? We are busy redefining how the world works, and were not exactly representative of the population.
Think about us. We play video games, read e-books, use social media, surf the web, indulge in assorted fictional exercises, and so on. We're geek–hip, cutting–edge, wired, and on top of the techno-cultural curve. We often live in megaregions and cities that are where it's all going down, from inventing new tools to Greentech to running the culture engines.
We are defining the world of the future. People love the stuff we work on, from mobile tech, to games, to movies, to websites. When you think about it, it fills you with geek pride.
Yet, when you think about it more, though we indulge in a range of geeky pleasures and technologies in cool things, we aren't representative of the many other groups, populations, and peoples using we make. We exist in a world of concentrated geekery that many others do not participate in, understand, or are even aware of.
We are remaking the world, driving the world and its technologies and cultures, yet we really don't represent the billions of people using and indulging in what we create. Right now it is the Age of the Geek, but we're still here in our own culture, even if it is also the Age of Geek Chic.
You know what? That's fine.
Everyone exists in their own culture. That's OK. That happens.
Those of us that are geeks and progeeks we do have our own culture. We need that concentrated geekiness to help us do what we do; make incredibly cool stuff. It's no different than great sportsmen needing to practice among people would do similar things, or scientists going to their great conventions and shows in gauging and research, or anything else.
I think it's just important for us to realize this. It helps us interact better with people that don't share our subculture. It helps us do better at delivering the tools, technology, media, and other neat things we make. It helps us understand where we fit into the bigger picture.
I think this is vital for professional geeks. We need to remember that there are times people that use what we create are not like us. It helps us design better and think ahead when we make programs and games and books and so on.
It also helps us understand how we connect to people; the various cool geeky things we do from Green Tech to mobile games make home from our frantic lives of concentrated, but they also connect us with others. The neat things forged in the fires of total geekdom are the things we share with the world, are very subcultural differences provide us the power to create things for everybody–or at least our audience.
So remember, my professional geeks. You are not necessarily your audience or your customer, and that's fine. Yet the very products of your geekiness are what let you work wonders, and share with other people–even those not nearly as geeky as you are.