How to Engage Younger People in Diving?

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I suspect that most activities and hobbies have cyclical popularity and perhaps a dip in popularity for a short term could take some stress off of reefs.

Today's kids definitely appear less into outdoor activities in place of video games and internet, however I'm not sure if kids in the 8-16 age range being infatuated with video games explains people in the 20-30 range not being into scuba diving.

I don't buy the idea that things are so much tougher (economically, culturally, etc) on the current generation compared to the past to afford hobbies either. A person doesn't need the latest and greatest phone that's $1,200, my 7 year old smart phone works swimmingly. I'm posting from my 11 year old laptop which I also use to edit my UW photos. I don't think 18 year olds are being held at gun point to sign up for 100s of thousand in loans for degrees that can't support the debt. As far as I'm aware co-op, internships and similar still exist today to help pay for school.

I think it's just priorities and it appears that having the latest gadgets and other stuff like that is a higher priority than outdoor (at least scuba) hobbies for younger generations.

And I don't mind at all being younger than most on the dive boats with me, it's an opportunity to learn and hear stories from those that have a much longer and more extensive dive history.
 
Yeah, this thread is doing great at that.

I suppose I'm one of the 'younger people' y'all are talking about - barely hit my early twenties last year and I started diving when I was a teen. For me, it was those deadly screens everyone is talking about that got me into it in the first place. My family is terrified of the ocean and despite living only an hour away from the beach, refused to ever go except once in a blue moon. Rare aquarium trips when I nagged them enough and ocean documentaries like Blue Planet were the only way I could get to the ocean, and now I work in it.

For most of us younger folks, the cost of diving and medical issues are the biggest issue. I have never met a person my age or younger who wasn't fascinated by diving. 80% of those I know who haven't seriously started looking at diving are avoiding it because they can barely pay rent and other necessities even working two jobs, and are trying to save money by cutting corners wherever they can. I mean, good lord, it would've taken me another year or two to get certified if I hadn't worked out a loan system with my parents. The others who are interested but haven't done so cite medical issues - not allowed because of asthma, heart problems, other things that won't clear the medical.

With increased media coverage on violence and crime, more and more people and parents want to stay indoors, which just creates that pattern of behavior in the kids. I know that's how it was for me. Other modes of entertainment - video games, TV, ebooks - are much less expensive and much easier to fly by your financial plans and/or parents.

I'm 30, which is about the end of being a "younger person" and old enough not to be trusted (according to the Beatles). I started diving when I was 24.

The answer is largely centered around economic issues. Inflation has doubled prices since 1989, but wages haven't grown anywhere near the same pace and most people my age are also carrying 5-6 figures of inflated student loan debt. It isn't always possible to learn to dive or to keep diving cheaply, especially for people in HCOL areas.

I've had to sacrifice the possibility of keeping more than $1k in liquid savings so that I can actually do the thing I love. It's not mathematically possible to do both.

Please understand that I did not mean to sound condescending when I used the terms "young people", "younger divers" and "younger generation" because that truly wasn't my intention.

We are "older divers" and we are also worried about our future diving prospects, not only because we are aging and concerned about health and wellness, but also because we plan to retire soon and are unsure if the new reality of our retirement income will lend itself to pursuing travel and diving opportunities. We having been saving a long time for retirement - but who knows what the future will bring?

We also had a hard time affording diving when we were young. We had to pay for our education and our wedding and put a down payment on a "fixer upper" home and do most of the work ourselves. We would pile everything into our series of "beater" cars and drive all the long way to Florida and the Keys just to go diving, often staying in some pretty un-glamorous lodgings because they were cheap.

I am not saying all this for sympathy, or to belittle your very real and justified concerns, just to let you know that I do understand that financial considerations are a major roadblock to pursuing diving for sport and travel, especially when you are young and just starting out.

I imagine a lot of dive ops are also struggling, but perhaps some of the larger dive vendors could put an increased focus on attracting the younger diving demographic and consider offering some cheaper dive opportunities that would help attract younger divers?
 
We had a hard time affording diving when we were young also. We had to pay for our education and our wedding and put a down payment on a "fixer upper" home and do most of the work ourselves. We would pile everything into our series pf beater cars and drive all the way to Florida and the Keys just to go diving, often staying in some un-glamorous lodgings.

Exactly.

Possibly sounding older and curmudgeoned beyond my years.... but it really just seems that younger generations (mine included) require such instant gratification that the idea of it taking time to build a life is just totally not palatable.
 
Please! Let's not jump all over the concerns and choices of some members of the younger generation! I am sure that my parents didn't approve of all my choices either - and I personally know some folks in my own generation that haven't always made good decisions.
 
It depends on the age targeted but a lot of parents now take a lot of « me time ».. sports and vacations without kids. This results in not exposing them to stuff. Kids learn from example. Teen scuba diving camps or parent/kid pool dives would be awesome! I consider my self a young diver, mid 20’s. I always try and involve my kids some how in what I do.

Those medical and school costs in the states seem crazy!!
 
How to Engage Younger People in Diving?



Tell them its cheap.
Actually, you’re not far off, it can be done fairly cheap with a little creative effort and some knowledge.

That’s it, build the relationship on honesty and trust, the way dive shops do it now.



Bob
Some shops are still good and some shops still pretty sleazy.
I think the complexity and associated costs of dive gear has gotten way out of control over the years for what it needs to be just for doing simple fun dives. The industry as a whole saw an opportunity to grow scuba with fluffy gear and expedited training and they took full advantage of what was becoming the hot new sport of the time. This growth continued up to about the early 2000’s, and it has been steadily declining from there per capital with population growth (not necessarily actual numbers) ever since. I’m sure the dive shops saw an opportunity to get while the gettin was good just like every other industry does. At what length they went to generate those sales to a ravenous public varies from shop to shop I’m sure.

A good example:
To what length did our dear friend, the old owner of our LDS go to make as much cash as he could before he got out? I saw stuff when I was in there that made me cringe.
Nuff said.

It’s totally ironic, but the worst place for a new diver to go if they are interested in scuba diving and on a budget is into a predatory style dive shop.
 
“Past generations had no screens to sit behind”.
Yeah they did, the boob tube.
Remember the slogan “kill your TV”?
This was in response to too many kids glued to the tube watching mindless shows like Gilligan’s Island and Lost in Space instead of playing outside. I was always outside because I grew up without a TV.
 
Engaging younger people in diving might go a little better if you start by learning how to respectfully engage them in conversation. Pro tip: when you want to understand someone's motivation, try listening to what they have to say instead of telling them what's wrong with them. I'm disappointed, but unfortunately not surprised, by the pile-on of the one younger diver who dared answer the question posed by the thread title.
 
Shadow a young person around for a week or two and see what they do in all aspects of their life and all the associated costs. That will tell you a lot. There’s not a lot of time or money left over for doing something like scuba diving. As complicated and expensive as it has become just for basic survival, I give them credit.
I’m also speaking for the SF Bay Area, one of the most expensive places on Earth to live.
 

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