Being tall is helpful in many sports and has been linked (somewhat controversially) to gains in economics, intelligence, and lifespan. However, not everything is better being tall.

The average height for Americans males is 5 foot 9 inches, and the average height for an American woman is about 5 foot 4 inches. Thus, it does not occur to many people to trim trees and other obstructions to a height that accommodates tall people. Doorways, ceilings, and the like are often not built to  heights that work for the very tall (especially when they forget how tall they are and don’t pay attention to their surroundings-ouch!).

Another major source of unhappiness for the tall stems from questions about sport choice. Madison Barker, a 5′ 10″  eighth grade basketball player and volleyball player, noted that “people often ask me ‘Do you play basketball?’ or, less often, ‘Do you play volleyball?'” These questions get very repetitive and annoying, though it would be worse and even harder to answer if the person being questioned did not play either of those sports.

Up there with questions on sport choice is the question “How’s the weather up there?” Many people ask the question as if the air quality is any different than that a foot below, and ask the question repeatedly.

While there are many disadvantages, there are also many accompanying advantages to height. Being very tall means that few people can block your view most of the time, and mean that your friends can find you in a crowd. Also, being below 6 feet give you a 1 in 1.2 million chance of playing in the NBA, while being above seven feet gives you a 1 in 7 chance.