The violent anti-nerd sentiment of the 1980s had real life implications for anyone who was into computers or other nerd behavior well into the 90s. I actively avoided any public association with nerd things, only using them secretly and not talking about it with friends. The stereotype radically changed into a cool thing in the late 90s with the hacker becoming the new architype.

Moving forward it's important to remember that mainstream films effectively doomed almost two decades of smart people to either closet nerd behavior or condemnation and ostracization.