Do you think computers encourage risky diving in new/ young divers?

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I guess I'm avoiding saying yes or no.
You have new divers and "young" divers in the OP.
New divers may just as easily screw up using tables.
With "young" you must give an age. Many say young males are more prone to taking stupid chances than females. Then what age? Recently 14-24 was suggested. Of course, this is a generalization as there are many who don't fit this parameter.

Sort of an analogy may be when stick shift cars gradually gave way to automatics being more the norm. Some said this makes it too easy-- less to think about-- so accidents will happen by confusing gas with brake (no clutch). I guess this didn't affect accident rates (don't really know). Then again, it seems to me there are more idiots on the road today than ever.

One of my favourite pet peeves is that it is rarely explained that you don't have the conservatism with DCs that you do with tables--your bottom time is (theoretically) exactly what it is. So someone may think "I have 1 minute bottom time remaining, so I'm safe".
 
I’m in this group you’re talking about. I have not taken a decompression course, I routinely exceed my computers decompression limits, and I do not calculate my remaining air. I would probably not behave this way if I was diving square profile tables!

It seems safe-ish though. When I hit deco at depth I start heading up, and the deco goes away as I do. I slowly ride my computers warning up to the surface, do my non-mandatory safety stop with 1000#, and it and I are both happy on the surface. If I misjudged things a bit I’ve had two or three minutes of real deco at 10’, but that’s more of an extended safety stop than an underwater emergency, right? I have never been close to a situation where I did not have enough gas to make it back up, even if I can’t quantify how close.

Safety is only one of the factors to be optimized here: I dive for fun and would be much safer just staying in bed all day. It’s my (limited!) understanding that spending most of the dive slowly ascending up a wall or wreck is easier on my body than a square up-and-down profile anyway. Diving like this allows me to cover a lot of different terrain, see a lot of different things, and decide what to do based on what I see down there rather than following a fixed plan. The fun / danger ratio seems high, even if I can’t quantify the fun either. Do I just not know what I don’t know? Are there things I haven’t considered? Would I learn those things in a deco course?
Are you also a solo diver, the way your profile says? Do you have that training?
 
I’m in this group you’re talking about. I have not taken a decompression course, I routinely exceed my computers decompression limits, and I do not calculate my remaining air. I would probably not behave this way if I was diving square profile tables!

It seems safe-ish though. When I hit deco at depth I start heading up, and the deco goes away as I do. I slowly ride my computers warning up to the surface, do my non-mandatory safety stop with 1000#, and it and I are both happy on the surface. If I misjudged things a bit I’ve had two or three minutes of real deco at 10’, but that’s more of an extended safety stop than an underwater emergency, right? I have never been close to a situation where I did not have enough gas to make it back up, even if I can’t quantify how close.

Safety is only one of the factors to be optimized here: I dive for fun and would be much safer just staying in bed all day. It’s my (limited!) understanding that spending most of the dive slowly ascending up a wall or wreck is easier on my body than a square up-and-down profile anyway. Diving like this allows me to cover a lot of different terrain, see a lot of different things, and decide what to do based on what I see down there rather than following a fixed plan. The fun / danger ratio seems high, even if I can’t quantify the fun either. Do I just not know what I don’t know? Are there things I haven’t considered? Would I learn those things in a deco course?

That type of diving is probably not that unusual for young and aggressive divers. Venturing over the magic "deco" line with your pinky toe is not such a huge issue in my mind and if you always end up with 1000 psi to hang, chances are all will go well.

The risk is not so much going over the line, but possibly not being prepared for contingencies. What if a buddy runs out of air or has a failure? Have you figured that into the logistics?

What if you blow a LP hose, or a BC fails and you have to kick yourself to the the surface? Do you have the tools of redundancy to get yourself out of trouble when one of the more easily envisioned problems arise? What you are doing is simple and easy, if all goes as planned.

These same issues will arise if you push the limits and begin your ascent with 1 minute of no deco time left. One or two minutes over, or one or two minutes under, the theoretical DECO line probably makes little difference, because one day you will be sick or cold or tired or whatever and your body won't be working at its best.

In my opinion, once you start routinely approaching the theoretical limits, a diver would be prudent to start working in some redundancies and a plan B and maybe even C.

To boil it down to the simplest, sure 1000 psi on the short deco/safety is adequate, but what actions have you taken to ensure that you actually will have that amount of gas when you reach 10 feet?
 
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Something I've been curious about. If I exceed NDL my computer will tell me to stop at X depth for Y minutes. After that it will tell me next stop depth and time. I have not tried it but my understanding is that it will show one stop at a time. It will not tell me all stops ie, will not tell me the air needed in total.


Do you experienced divers think that the fact that the computer will "get you out of deco" in any way encourages newer/younger divers to exceed their training and experience?
No - a diver should not be doing decompression diving unless trained - the computer has nothing to do with it, in my opinion.
 
No - a diver should not be doing decompression diving unless trained - the computer has nothing to do with it, in my opinion.
Agree. I mean, why go so close to limits that you MAY go into deco? Isn't it easier to plan to ascend within say, a minimum of 5 minutes of the NDL? I guess if you're diving a square profile on tables that 5 minutes may even be 6 or 7 unless you dive with your mask in the sand the whole time. On an 80' or 100' dive on Air I'll start up with 5 minutes left (bottom time is short anyway). On a 60' dive (NDL 55 mins.) I'll probably ascend at 45 minutes.
 
Answer to the OP: No.

I regularly lead inexperienced divers on local dives after they get their open water certifications, so I see a good sampling of the species.

New divers are so focused on the basics of seeing, breathing, getting neutral and getting horizontal under water that they are unaware of the information available on their computers or what it means. Most will not check their depth or pressure without prompting.

Today was a typical example. Young couple around 30 years old. They've been certified two years and they already have eight dives (now ten), including the four in their OW course. They looked at their consoles only when asked to do so. I don't believe either of them processed any information other than tank pressure during the length of our two dives. I guarantee they weren't thinking of ways to game the computer.

Overall, this couple was very normal for new divers. We talked about their responsibilities to themselves and each other, but from the moment their brains came in contact with the salt water, they stopped giving evidence that they were doing any planning or thinking. They were counting on me to keep them safe and in contact with each other in our 15-ft visibility. I did. They tipped well, and they want to go out with me again, at which time, I'll try to get them to broaden their perspective from the diameter of a drinking straw to that of the core of a toilet paper roll.

It takes time to develop situational awareness of the variables that affect your dive.

A new or young diver who tried to use a computer to maximize deep bottom time and ride the NDL up as described in the OP would be unusually precocious.
 
Overall, this couple was very normal for new divers. We talked about their responsibilities to themselves and each other, but from the moment their brains came in contact with the salt water, they stopped giving evidence that they were doing any planning or thinking. They were counting on me to keep them safe and in contact with each other in our 15-ft visibility.

Unfortunately, this is the mentality of many casual vacation divers who don't dive because it's a hobby but as one of many pastimes. They could just as easily go see a movie than go diving. I have friends, a couple, when I asked them after a days worth of diving why they stuck so close to the DM and in doing so, more or less ignored me. Their response was "We paid the DM to guide us and protect us". So, that just about sums it up. These divers will never see how irresponsible they are to their buddies and to other divers.
 
Today was a typical example. Young couple around 30 years old. They've been certified two years and they already have eight dives (now ten), including the four in their OW course.

You should have written they ONLY have eight dives. Good Lord, 10 dives in two years? If they’re going that much time in between dives, I don’t expect the situation to improve much. Do you remember the last time they dove?
 
Marie,
The “already” was tongue in cheek . They said they dove last fall.
 

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