why are there very few young divers?

[TMHeimer]

Young divers dive.

They don't talk online about diving with old people.

Maybe. I would say the majority (or at least half) of the students I've seen in OW courses here are well under 30. Maybe not so many as certified divers that I've seen. Perhaps some get bored or "life gets in the way"?

 

[Matt S.]

initial cert costs are not that high.

Do people actually know that though?

I got certified in my late 30s. I probably could have afforded it years before that, even in my late 20s. But I didn't know how much it cost and assumed that it was MUCH more expensive than it turned out to be, so I never researched it.

I never saw an ad for certification, heard ads on the radio, or knew anyone who was a current diver themselves. It was only when I decided to look in to it that I realized what I had been missing. This is a case where advertising would have helped to get me in the door earlier.

 

[Skittl1321]

Do people actually know that though?

High is clearly relative. I thought they were high.

 

[rhwestfall]

Compared to the $25 lab fee I paid as a college PE class, yes, no matter what price you pay, it is likely "high"....

 

[mathauck0814]

I also think that it's not a monetary thing so much as a time and priority thing.

---------- Post added October 4th, 2013 at 01:02 PM ----------

Compared to the $25 lab fee I paid as a college PE class, yes, no matter what price you pay, it is likely "high"....

Did you have to walk home in your swim trunks? Uphill? In the snow, too?

 

[rhwestfall]

As I have said before, college class, YMCA (so no "agency blood money"), instructor was part of the university staff that had a passion for teaching diving, & school had all the equipment. Greatest opportunity of my life.

Took the sting out of having to spend $600 on a custom wet suit to fit me, just to be able to do my certification dives.......

 

[kelemvor]

High is clearly relative. I thought they were high.

I agree. More expensive than any other hobby I've engaged in. Photography is probably the closest. But that's just a one time cost. SCUBA is more expensive than other "sports" like baseball, basketball, hockey, football, etc. By several orders of magnitude.

While some young men and women may not have any problem coming up with the necessary cash. I'm sure many do.
I'm sure it's not the only reason, as others have pointed out.

I think the problem with getting an accurate answer to the original question is this: The only people who are going to respond are already divers. Only young people who are not already divers can really answer for sure. The rest of us can only guess. Guess what? Those people are almost guaranteed not to use scubaboard.

 

[pocky21]

And it can't be entirely cost, because there are TONS of gals in their 20's who ride and compete at horse shows . . . and that's WAY more expensive than diving is.

I KNEW I picked the wrong hobby!

Being a mid-20's single diver who abhors the beach bum look - I have noticed my options are somewhat limited

 

[ergo46]

I'm 16 got certified back in June and now have around 40 Local Dives.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Diving is expensive for everyone except those who live on coasts near good diving (or who are crazy enough about diving to think a quarry or lake is enjoyable), because it's the cost of TRIPS that's the major component of the cost of diving, not gear or certification. Every time I go diving, it's somewhere in the range of $1,000 or a bit less for a long weekend in the Keys up to $3,000 or more for major trip. Dropping a few hundred on a new iPhone is peanuts compared to the cost of dive travel. The 20-somethings who are avid divers are largely the ones who live near good coastal diving, just as the 20-somethings who are avid skiers are largely the ones who live in the mountain states.