The Truth Behind the Fanboy and Why They Exist

Part 5: Fanboy -- The New Opium of the Masses

While most techo-fans feel a certain amount of loyalty towards the products that they use on a daily basis -- especially those from which a great deal of pleasure is derived, like computers or video game consoles -- under normal circumstances the subject should not provoke an emotional reaction on either side, so when it does you have your first clue that you are dealing with a fanboy (or you are one).

When brand loyalty causes a person to proselytize upon a subject or provokes in them an irresistible need to convert their listeners over to their way of thinking upon it, this is clear evidence that they are in fact a fanboy. The desire to take such a person down a peg or two does not necessarily mean that you are yourself a fanboy in the opposing camp, but it does suggest that you may want to give some thought to the matter because it may be an early warning that you have a problem.

Any time you find yourself putting out the energy and effort to enter into an argument -- and especially an argument over something so fleetingly relative as a brand or product -- you should be asking yourself why your feelings are so deep that you can justify that effort and action to yourself. Of course you could just be one of those people in the world who genuinely enjoys a good argument -- but in that case it should not matter to you which side of the issue you are defending, since your interest is in the argument itself rather than the substance of it -- watch the video below to help you decide if you are one of those people...

The folks in the world who genuinely do enjoy having a good argument are aware that the insult "fanboy" can be a particularly effective means for provoking an argument when the target is in fact a fanboy, and when they are an emphatic supporter of a particular brand or product the insult is often magnified by that brand loyalty when the target's commitment is solidly and sincerely held -- but the underlying strength of that commitment and subsequently the success of your gambit in using the F-Word may well draw its power from an area that will surprise you...

Recent medical research suggests that the area of the brain that is triggered by feelings of brand loyalty includes the same areas of the brain triggered by religious worship and thought, evidence that certainly helps explain the fixated actions and reactions of the typical fanboy.

The underlying basis for this speculation actually began as part of a completely unrelated line of inquiry that started at a University hospital in the Netherlands, where researchers were trying to find out whether taking images of the male and female genitals during coitus was feasible, and to find out whether former and current ideas about the anatomy during sexual intercourse and during female sexual arousal are based on assumptions or on facts. To facilitate this process the researchers used an MRI machine (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) and volunteers who had intercourse while the machine was used to capture the activities as data.

In the process of completing the study the subject naturally expanded to include questions about which sections of the brain were being accessed during sex and, not surprisingly, curiosity as to whether the same sections were active for men as they were for women. The results from these studies were sufficiently intriguing so as to cause Neuroscientists in New Jersey to use MRI scanners to discover that 30 different parts of a woman's brain fire up during orgasm, and that the pleasure is so great it can stop them from feeling pain when different parts of the nervous system shut down while others had their stimulation increased, causing the woman to be less aware of pain sensations.

It was not long before questions that relate to other emotional issues became the focus for this line of research (while it may have its roots in physical activity, for most humans sex is also an emotional event, and so is shopping) so the researchers expanded their inquiries to matters like brand loyalty and curiosity about what causes some consumers to become fanboys/fangirls.

The BBC documentary Secrets of the Superbrands attempted to address that issue using some of the research and research techniques that were pioneered in the above referenced studies and in the process discovered something that was both unexpected and tantalizing -- the primary seat of the emotions and thought in the brain for brand loyalty in those uber consumers originates from the same locations in the brain where religious experiences are spawned.

Using phrases like "faithful follower of technology" to describe Apple fans may not be as much of an exaggeration as it first appears to be -- and other consumer electronics like video games are an easy jump for this process. This suggests that the console wars that presently rage within the gaming community could just as easily be described as religious wars -- leaving us praying that they do not serve as the underlying cause for a new round of Crusades, as last time that happened it lead to centuries of conflict and the death of untold thousands. We're just saying...