Why aren't more people taking up scuba diving?

[RJP]

Why people take up scuba diving depends to a large degree on where they live. I always ask my students why they are taking up diving, and the overwhelming majority speak of a coming vacation to a tropical resort area. I am sure that if I lived next to an ocean, I would get different responses.

The up-coming vacation would be a proximate trigger... but it's not "why they took up scuba diving."

Just as you don't go to an Italian restaurant for dinner because your hungry. Being hungry is the proximate trigger that makes you think of food... but you go to an Italian restaurant because you're "in the mood" for Italian.

There's plenty of things to do in nice, warm-water locations... why scuba diving? Why THIS trip and not the last one? Why not golf? Kite-boarding? Snorkeling is far cheaper? Tennis requires less gear. Hiking only needs a pair of shoes. The whole family would enjoy sailing. drrich got certified for his honeymoon... what's that all about?

Why is someone "in the mood" for scuba diving?

How can we get them in the mood?

---------- Post added December 10th, 2014 at 07:06 PM ----------

Until Verizon puts towers underwater, most young people will never dive. They are completely under the control of their stupid phones and other electronics. I've seen them walk into doors, walls, each other, trash cans, and cars while mesmerized by the stupidity on their idiotic devices. Because they spend all their time on these ridiculous machines they are soft, mentally and physically. I've tried to get a few certified but their physical conditioning is so bad they cannot recover from a simple walk to the water with their dive gear on. Sad but true. The ones that do make it to the water, just whine about everything. Welcome to the new America....land of the fat and lazy.

And my grandparents said that my parents would never leave the house when TV became commonplace. And my parents thought video games would ruin the world. It's currently mobile devices. Next will be hover-cars...

 

[DKL]

---------- Post added December 10th, 2014 at 07:06 PM ----------



[\QUOTE]And my grandparents said that my parents would never leave the house when TV became commonplace. And my parents thought video games would ruin the world. It's currently mobile devices. Next will be hover-cars...[/QUOTE]

Well technically they do all these things on their stupid phones....minus the hover-car......so yeah, they were all correct.

 

[TMHeimer]

They've been saying hover cars since I was a kid. The only one I'll ever see was driven by McFly.

 

[drrich2]

There's plenty of things to do in nice, warm-water locations... why scuba diving? Why THIS trip and not the last one? Why not golf? Kite-boarding? Snorkeling is far cheaper? Tennis requires less gear. Hiking only needs a pair of shoes. The whole family would enjoy sailing. drrich got certified for his honeymoon... what's that all about?

Then (2005/2006): 36 (37 when married) year old guy, mental health professional, single with good income, main hobbies digital photography, web surfing, a pet turtle collection, time in a turtle forum like I now spend on SB, & 'field helping' - going around with a friend viewing, catching & photographing wild reptiles with an emphasis on turtles. Never been outside the continental U.S. Don't know what 'the Caribbean' is, or where it stands in relation to Europe; never had cause to know. Liked nature programs as a kid, and intrigued to by watching divers on t.v. dive coral reefs, and at the prospect of seeing moray eels, sharks, barracuda, etc...

Plans to get married & go on 1st cruise for honeymoon. Realize might never get around to an African safari, guided field helping in Peru or Costa Rica, etc..., but now that I've got a like-minded best friend and a fiance' willing to join me & try scuba out, so what about trying this diving thing? Friend's not going on the honeymoon, but if we like it, maybe another trip later?

Thanks to the Internet I learn of an instructor in Nashville who's got a pretty extensive website explaining recreational scuba, I contact him, and so on & so forth. I run into some hurdles along the way, end up doing my last 2 OW checkout dives at a cruise stop because I blew it at Vortex Springs beforehand, but got the scuba bug bad and have been 'driven to dive' ever since. Wife is an occasional aquarium-conditions dabbler. Buddy enjoyed diving but off in medical school. I got solo certified so I could finally dive without requiring a buddy (I'm an only child introvert who spend a lot of time alone growing up in the country; needing somebody else is a serious drawback for me).

Now I'm on SB every day, and spend part of every day thinking about my hoped for next great dive trip, Lord willing and providing. Due to take a cruise very soon (no diving; family time), but I keep thinking around it focusing on a hoped for 1st live-aboard trip in May.

Ironically, I later learned my workplace is within a mile or so of a large quarry turned dive site with an onsite dive shop that's a big draw for regional dive training, and I'd driven past it hundreds of times and didn't even know it (since then they've put a sign out where one turns off onto a little gravel road to head down to it).

Richard.

 

[RJP]

They've been saying hover cars since I was a kid. The only one I'll ever see was driven by McFly.

I wrote an article on just that point a year or so ago "Where's My Damn Hover-Car!"

Was all about a being a boy in the 70's and seeing "Personal hover cars are coming..." on the cover of Popular Science every other month. Hell, they've been promising that since the late 50s!

I know it's the military-industrial-automotive-entertainment complex keeping them off the market!

 

[Diving Dubai]

I can't remember if this question has been posed before (probably given the length of the thread) But I'll put it out their again.

Why is Snow Skiing seemingly so popular?

There are a number of things (if I generalise) that are similar to Scuba for the beginner

1. Seasonal sport
2. The vast majority of people need to travel to a destination to partake
3. You need to rent gear (Skis, bindings and boots)
4. You need some form of training for which there is a cost (along with Ski passes etc)
5. Requires some practice and experience to master
6. Has an inherent danger - possibly more so with broken bones being common.
7. It has similar costs as to Scuba as a vacation activity

Where it differs

1. Scuba requires the sitting of a formal exam - Is this off putting to people learning?
2 With Skiing you only rent the basics above, the rest like Jackets pants goggles gloves etc you need to purchase and the cost of these can easily exceed the cost of scuba gear and unlike scuba gear it quickly goes out of fashion

------

So why is skiing so popular? If I go into a (UK) travel agent then the shelves are full of brochures for skiing holidays - as well as some far flung beach destinations for those seeking winter sun - you rarely see if ever a brochure aimed at dive holidays.

IS skiing an aspirational activity? When I was younger it seemed a very middle class thing to do. Is it because Celebs are photographed in tabloids etc Skiing, or does the fact that it is highly televised that attracts people.

With Skiing, people chose and book a destination purely to go skiing, where as Diving is often an activity where people chose to have a go at while they are on vacation rather than picking a destination with diving in mind as an activity - Here I am referring to new divers rather than seasoned ones?

Walk around spots shops and in the lead up to the season they are full of ski gear - where as diving is limited to small independent retailers - You rarely see racks of diving gear in brightly lit stores. But Like Scuba the industry is very fragmented so RJP's arguments for cohesive marketing apply

I suggest there is a similar percentage of people who try skiing and then drop it as a hobby as scuba, but would suggest that more people have a go

So why?

 

[GiantMoray]

People have always spoken about how the younger generation are worse (it was even recorded some years BC) than the previous generation and moaning about the smart phone generation is no different.

 

[RJP]

I suggest there is a similar percentage of people who try skiing and then drop it as a hobby as scuba, but would suggest that more people have a go

So why?

I'm writing a blog post on this topic currently, it was mentioned repeatedly at DEMA. "If Skiing can do it... so can we!"

There is one major difference between skiing and scuba. And no... it's not the need for certification.

Well, there's two actually... and neither are the need for certification.

Ok, there's a third difference too.

But the first one is the major one.

"More to come..."

 

[rhwestfall]

Are there statistics that show there are less "now" than "before"? I actually feel there are more taking it up, but the retention rate is what is volatile.... My certification in the middle-80's was through college, and it seemed that dive shops were a rarity. That may have been a geographical issue though. Anyhow, from my (though infrequent) interaction at my LDS, classes are quite full. I'm sure there have been some real spikes as well as drops if viewed over a specific timeline, but I'd venture that generally it is on the rise...

Again, retention is the issue, IMHO.

 

[drrich2]

I believe the public believes it can understand the basics of what's involved with skiing; you dress warmly in colorful, often attractive winter wear, ride a ski lift up a mountain or hillside, and slide down the slope, using those poles to help stay upright, and some slopes are easier than others. My mental association with skiing is of enthusiastic attractive young people getting away for a holiday, perhaps men hoping to to get laid with the women they brought, or a family holiday (as my cousin's family did). I've never been skiing but tend to assume I've got at least a wild idea of what would be involved (e.g.: trip to Colorado, clothing, gear rental, lessons).

However far off base I may be, if I wanted to ski, fear of the unknown and irritation with potential complexity wouldn't put me off from investigating it.

Okay, look at a group of scuba divers in gear. Possibly show on t.v. diving some place the public hasn't heard of and may not be sure how to pronounce. Underwater where they can't talk to each other, and it's not 'social.'

And what are the odds a random U.S. civilian knows someone who's been skiing vs. diving?

Richard.