How to Engage Younger People in Diving?

[GJC]

This seems to be a successful program. Been going since 1976.

SCUBA in School | Ocean Gear Scuba Center

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

If people choose to live in a place where they don’t need a car or choose to be car free, then that’s their responsibility to get where they want to dive. I have no patience for the sob story. If diving is a priority, they’ll find a way to get there. If it’s not, then they’ll use any excuse.

Not any excuse but they will choose activities with less hassle. They will never get hooked. And we will continue to have threads like these.

I’ve had experience locally from multiple young people expecting me to drive miles out of my way to pick them up and drive them home with no outlay on their part at all. They expected a ride to be provided to them for free. I had an entire thread on this. Screw that.

Yeah, I saw that. Ask yourself how you contributed to their expectations, Regardless, your experience with giving rides is not representative of everyone from younger generations

This is a good use of social media - find someone who lives near you and offer cash and maybe lunch/post dive beers, etc., in exchange for the ride.

There we agree

 

[lowviz]

My first scuba class was a Phys Ed class in college....no cost to me, and i got credit for it.
It NEVER would have occurred to me to go outside the university and actually pay for something.....

IMHO, the post (above) is worth repeating at this point in this thread.

Problem is, it should have been HS Phys Ed rather than college.

That, and some sort of a TV teen scuba reality show, something like the old babe watch...

 

[TheSnowBeast]

They tend to be more afraid to commit to anything simply because the world does not commit to you. Much easier to commit to a career if you know in the long run it will pay off.

As technically a millenial myself, this is the biggest rift I see between my generation and the ones before. 40 years ago, most companies offered pensions-you put in your time and work hard and you will be taken care of when you retire, gosh even get free heathcare if you found the right place. Today, forget it. If you are lucky, your firm matches 20% in your 401k which probably won't cover you for the entirety of your retirement. And if you happen to want to retire when the stock market crashes-forget it. I say this to point out that the way the world works is changing and we are trying to figure out how to thrive in a world that appears to care more about the bottom dollar than their members/employees. Maybe that's why we don't want to commit to any one thing. The only thing I trust to look out for me in this world is myself- and maybe my dog.

Today, we have access to bounties of information and things to experience that 50 years ago could have never been imagined. The world is more accessible than ever before. I find myself wanting to see it all for myself as do many people my age. Sure there are some that want to play video games-but many of us want to spend money on experiencing as much of this world as possible. I will reiterate from post #157 that I do not even own a tv and my laptop is pretty old and dusty. I do have tattoos and really like avocados-but not on toast.

That said, I want to see the world from the tops of the mountains to the bottom of the seas. To see the bottom of the sea is for me a $1000 minimum cost of entry. To get remotely good enough to enjoy diving, I need to spend another few thousand to rent and/or buy gear-even used to practice. I do have some specific limitations as I do need to buy cold weather appropriate gear that drives those costs up some. For every specialty you want to do there is another cost. Sure deep dives would be cool, as would drift diving, drysuit is mandatory for me since i dive cold water, nitrox seems helpful..... And the classes just introduce ideas. I left my OW class having learned hardly anything other than how to clear my mask-and I was very uncomfortable doing it. I finally got good at those skills by the time I took the Rescue Diver class-the skills that were introduced there I did once-hardly enough to build any confidence in the skill. So to get good at those skills it's more air fills or gear rentals (around $100 for a weekend here since its all very cold water) And finding a buddy who wants to spend their dive day doing basic skills.

The point I am making is the way the industry is set up feels like a big corporate grab for our money. I feel like certifying agencies are more worried about taking our money for classes so we can flash our cards at the dive shop than making sure we show a minimum competency in the skills and receive quality instruction. And every single time you dive it costs money-sometimes a lot. I make more than average for my age group and getting into diving has been financially difficult. I have to ask myself if diving is worth the extra money when I could be doing other activities that I also greatly enjoy that I no longer have to pay anything other than gas to do.

Compare that to mountaineering-you spend $1000 on some decent used gear, find a mentor (maybe-or read a lot of books and hope you get lucky), and away you go. No classes to spend money (unless you want to). I mean if you are doing small mountains all you need is some sneakers, a backpack, and a water bottle, (ok and first aid kit and food) No cost of air fills or gear rental every time you want to go. Ad I would dare to argue that this activity has the the same potential to be deadly as diving. Why are there not hundreds of thousands of dollars of classes more or less required for people to do this? From my exposure to this community, they seem to be doing ok at attracting younger people.

I guess the point I am making is it is a hard sell when there are so many opportunities to see the world in awesome ways that cost a lot less. To get good at many of these activities just takes time. Not time and lots of money like diving (or skydiving for that matter....). To appeal to younger generations, explain why diving is worth giving up that vacation to Thailand or worth giving up avacado toast and coffee every day. Why should diving get my financial and time priority when there are other things that are less financially taxing that I could be spending my time doing?

Sure money is not an excuse. But explain why diving is worth my time and money? I think that is the sell that is needed to get the younger generation into it.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

As technically a millenial myself, this is the biggest rift I see between my generation and the ones before. 40 years ago, most companies offered pensions-you put in your time and work hard and you will be taken care of when you retire, gosh even get free heathcare if you found the right place. Today, forget it. If you are lucky, your firm matches 20% in your 401k which probably won't cover you for the entirety of your retirement. And if you happen to want to retire when the stock market crashes-forget it. I say this to point out that the way the world works is changing and we are trying to figure out how to thrive in a world that appears to care more about the bottom dollar than their members/employees. Maybe that's why we don't want to commit to any one thing. The only thing I trust to look out for me in this world is myself- and maybe my dog.

Today, we have access to bounties of information and things to experience that 50 years ago could have never been imagined. The world is more accessible than ever before. I find myself wanting to see it all for myself as do many people my age. Sure there are some that want to play video games-but many of us want to spend money on experiencing as much of this world as possible. I will reiterate from post #157 that I do not even own a tv and my laptop is pretty old and dusty. I do have tattoos and really like avocados-but not on toast.

That said, I want to see the world from the tops of the mountains to the bottom of the seas. To see the bottom of the sea is for me a $1000 minimum cost of entry. To get remotely good enough to enjoy diving, I need to spend another few thousand to rent and/or buy gear-even used to practice. I do have some specific limitations as I do need to buy cold weather appropriate gear that drives those costs up some. For every specialty you want to do there is another cost. Sure deep dives would be cool, as would drift diving, drysuit is mandatory for me since i dive cold water, nitrox seems helpful..... And the classes just introduce ideas. I left my OW class having learned hardly anything other than how to clear my mask-and I was very uncomfortable doing it. I finally got good at those skills by the time I took the Rescue Diver class-the skills that were introduced there I did once-hardly enough to build any confidence in the skill. So to get good at those skills it's more air fills or gear rentals (around $100 for a weekend here since its all very cold water) And finding a buddy who wants to spend their dive day doing basic skills.

The point I am making is the way the industry is set up feels like a big corporate grab for our money. I feel like certifying agencies are more worried about taking our money for classes so we can flash our cards at the dive shop than making sure we show a minimum competency in the skills and receive quality instruction. And every single time you dive it costs money-sometimes a lot. I make more than average for my age group and getting into diving has been financially difficult. I have to ask myself if diving is worth the extra money when I could be doing other activities that I also greatly enjoy that I no longer have to pay anything other than gas to do.

Compare that to mountaineering-you spend $1000 on some decent used gear, find a mentor (maybe-or read a lot of books and hope you get lucky), and away you go. No classes to spend money (unless you want to). I mean if you are doing small mountains all you need is some sneakers, a backpack, and a water bottle, (ok and first aid kit and food) No cost of air fills or gear rental every time you want to go. Ad I would dare to argue that this activity has the the same potential to be deadly as diving. Why are there not hundreds of thousands of dollars of classes more or less required for people to do this? From my exposure to this community, they seem to be doing ok at attracting younger people.

I guess the point I am making is it is a hard sell when there are so many opportunities to see the world in awesome ways that cost a lot less. To get good at many of these activities just takes time. Not time and lots of money like diving (or skydiving for that matter....). To appeal to younger generations, explain why diving is worth giving up that vacation to Thailand or worth giving up avacado toast and coffee every day. Why should diving get my financial and time priority when there are other things that are less financially taxing that I could be spending my time doing?

Sure money is not an excuse. But explain why diving is worth my time and money? I think that is the sell that is needed to get the younger generation into it.

This is all great stuff, and social economics is a very complicated subject, way to vast to discuss in a scuba thread.
All I can say is scuba diving isn’t a poor man’s sport. Neither is road bicycling especially if you get into up upper level bikes. I used to be into that too.
As far as selling diving to the younger crowd, there really isn’t any form of regular visual exposure anymore to spark one’s imagination. Years ago there seemed to be more stuff on TV showing diving and the underwater world.
The dive industry as a whole has done very little to almost nothing to advertise and promote diving. They just expect to sit back and collect the money for something that has grown very stale. I NEVER see anything on TV in the form of shows or adds, and I never hear anything on the radio in the form of LDS adds promoting diving and their shop. Nobody is willing to put themselves out forward pro bono to try and grow the sport again.
At least we have the internet now which has been huge for the DIY community and also taking all the power away from the LDS, which at one time was the only point of contact for the public.
We’re at a crossroads right now with a lot of things in society. The way everything is going it is not sustainable, and diving is right in there with it.

 

[TheSnowBeast]

This is all great stuff, and social economics is a very complicated subject, way to vast to discuss in a scuba thread.
All I can say is scuba diving isn’t a poor man’s sport. Neither is road bicycling especially if you get into up upper level bikes. I used to be into that too.
As far as selling diving to the younger crowd, there really isn’t any form of regular visual exposure anymore to spark one’s imagination. Years ago there seemed to be more stuff on TV showing diving and the underwater world.
The dive industry as a whole has done very little to almost nothing to advertise and promote diving. They just expect to sit back and collect the money for something that has grown very stale. I NEVER see anything on TV in the form of shows or adds, and I never hear anything on the radio in the form of LDS adds promoting diving and their shop. Nobody is willing to put themselves out forward pro bono to try and grow the sport again.
At least we have the internet now which has been huge for the DIY community and also taking all the power away from the LDS, which at one time was the only point of contact for the public.
We’re at a crossroads right now with a lot of things in society. The way everything is going it is not sustainable, and diving is right in there with it.

Well Said! I was lucky enough to watch the Crocodile Hunter (RIP) every Sunday which I believe was my first inkling that scuba diving existed at all.....

The lack of general visibility of the community is certainly a drawback. Most outdoor activities have REI pushing for visibility of those activities on a national level-and they have taken off in popularity. As for diving, there is no such advocate at this time. You get the BANIF film fest, tons of ski movies, Reel Rocks, etc promoting other activities on the big screens-I know of nothing like that for diving that could help spark the imagination of us younger people.

 

[M-Cameron]

Personally I say we petition to have the next Bond movie have more diving....for a Naval commander, bond has hardly spent any time in the water in the recent films.

Have Daniel Craig go for a nice dive, recover some stolen underwater nukes, spear a enemy diver with a spear gun, have relations with random women, fight a shark or something, go for a martini afterwards...... hell, OW certs would skyrocket.

 

[Graeme Fraser]

Personally I say we petition to have the next Bond movie have more diving....for a Naval commander, bond has hardly spent any time in the water in the recent films.

Have Daniel Craig go for a nice dive, recover some stolen underwater nukes, spear a enemy diver with a spear gun, have relations with random women, fight a shark or something, go for a martini afterwards...... hell, OW certs would skyrocket.

I'm with you but, alas, elf 'n' safety would have him in a life jacket before he got within 10ft of a puddle. Sigh

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I say bring back Sea Hunt except a modernized version on steroids. They did it Hawaii five O, Magnum P.I., and SWAT, why couldn’t they do it with sea Hunt. The plot could be modern day U/W crimes like drug trafficking, terrorism, and poaching.
The Russians, Chinese, and ISIS seem to be good current villains for Hollywood to exploit.
Maybe it could be an ex-Navy SEAL contracting on his own (and his “team”,.. real bad asses!!) to help local law enforcement and the FBI catch the bad guys.
Could be fun, I’d watch it.

 

[Esprise Me]

How much did you take out in student loans to pay for college?

If that was meant for me, adjusted for inflation, approximately $30,000 for myself and similar for my wife. Good thing grad school, I was a TA and so was my wife so that defrayed some of the cost as did athletic scholarship (swimmer) for me in the first years of undergrad. My parents carried a good bit of it but I also worked even though a full time student.

Oh that's cute. Today that's not even a year's tuition at many state schools. And how nice that your parents carried "a good bit" of what was left after your scholarship. Mine did too and I'm eternally grateful; I might not otherwise be a diver. But do you understand that many people don't have either of those things?

Money is not an excuse

Why do you think young people owe you an excuse for not diving?

I'm flabbergasted by the attitudes on display in this thread. Just when I think we've hit rock bottom, someone lowers the floor.