Nerd. Geek. Dork. All words I heard growing up off and on. I loved playing sports but admittedly wasn't great at any of them. But I also read a lot and was a member of the National Honor Society and graduated high school in the top five in my class. Being a big kid my whole life helped give me a thick skin (in more ways than one) to the name calling though it still hurt at times depending on who was saying it.

Today, society labels it 'bullying'. It was around when we were kids, but has become more hurtful and more widespread thanks to all the social media available to the technology savvy youth.

Actor Wil Wheaton, is best known for his years on the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation, but of course also from one of the best Stephen King adapted stories "Stand By Me", where ironically he played a kid who wrote a lot, read a lot, and was known as kind of a 'nerdy' boy.

Last summer while sitting on a panel at Comic Con in Denver, a little girl asked Wheaton how to deal with being called a nerd. The footage was shot last June, but just in the past few days has gone viral with over a million views.

Wheaton's words are good advice to kids currently going through this and all of us adults who wore the title long ago.

 

More From KYBB-FM / B102.7