Why aren't more people taking up scuba diving?

[boulderjohn]

I bet they can't operate a phonograph, either. It's a skill that is diminishing because analog clocks have been replaced by something else.

And they don't know how to crank the magneto on a telephone, either. It's amazing how much knowledge is being lost in this new generation.

Or was that my generation? I can't remember.

 

[Hank49]

Just thumbing through some of the post but to give an opinion on why scuba isnt a big hit with younger crowds......

I have noticed with younger crowds its not about fun and adventure any more like many of us had when we were younger. I have seen kids get plain mad when they find out mom or dad booked a cruise or a flight somewhere exotic. With comments like "Theres nothing to do but sit on the beach (Or deck).

I have witnessed too that we are trending towards the less effort is better mentality. Just the other day I went to a mcdonalds for breakfast and noticed the line was wrapped around the building and literally out in to the street so we parked across the street and walked over to the mcdonalds. Despite the honking horns and impatient gestures people were giving sitting in line the lobby was completely empty and we walked right up and ordered and was out in no time.

Television which was once a staple in our lives and something where commercials would come on and show exotic get aways are fading in to streaming commercial free media like netflix and so forth.

Where we once went out and constructed something by hand kids today do it virtually and thus never need to leave their home. Why would they want to work out in the cold or heat when they can sit at home?

We look at prepackaged entertainment. Once seen as a luxury Disney World was once viewed as an elite child who attended. Now you go to these places and pay an extraordinary price and with lines so long your lucky to ride even 5 rides all day and have to make reservations to go to a burger stand.

Its no wonder that as the I dont want to do anything and have no motivation to do anything crowd grows up its going to push alot of things we enjoy out the door as the older generation ages and eventually passes away.

And this is why my 25 year old son, who DOES love action...motocross, diving, free dive spearfishing, jumping off bridges....says the new species of humanoids is evolving. The "Blobs"....ones who lay in bed and can't move anymore because with an iPhone, you never have to get up. Ever....

 

[DKL]

I deal with a lot of teens in my current job. When they ask me for the time, I show them my wrist watch. It's not digital and has no numbers, just small diamonds for each number position. They cannot read it, they just look at it and ask, "so what time is it." I fear for the future every day. Take away the smart phone and ask them to add some numbers or find an average and they can't do it. That's why they put pictures on the registers at McDonalds, and have the registers show the change amount and how to give it back. Makes me sad.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Curious. It wasn't until after my first walk-in ocean dive that I felt I had become, finally, a scuba diver! I had helped a friend move from the Midwest to Boston, and we drove up from Boston to a cove near a small seaport town just north of Boston, to do a walk-in dive. Relatively shallow, not terribly long (as the water was very cold), easy surf. Parked the car on the side of the road, changed into our gear in/just outside the car, walked across the road and across a narrow beach and into and under the surf. Our first time doing this. (Our first time diving together.) The entire experience was exhilarating. Even the part where we unceremoniously peeled off our wetsuits, wrapped ourselves in towels, and dove into our Honda Civic, heater cranked full on, to thaw ourselves afterward. This was in March. I had already been diving for a year or so (Missouri lakes and quarries, and under the ice in Lake St Louis), but THIS was REAL diving!

Safe Diving,

rx7diver

This is the exact type of diving I do on the west coast.
Good old shore diving in the ocean. Park the truck in a turnout along hwy 1, get my wetsuit on, put the rest of my gear on and walk down a trail or path, across the sand in a cove and into the water. Usually I have a spear gun with me and I'll get some dinner.
This is about as good as it gets

 

[Joe Underwater]

I think the Jaws factor may still have an effect. I still hear new divers saying they have that fear quite often. I used to think my dad was crazy for diving with sharks, because I didn't know better. Just takes a bit of re-programming.

 

[TMHeimer]

I think the Jaws factor may still have an effect. I still hear new divers saying they have that fear quite often. I used to think my dad was crazy for diving with sharks, because I didn't know better. Just takes a bit of re-programming.

You may be right. Non divers do tend to bring up the shark topic. 'Course by now all of you know my odd take on the crazies who purposely seek them out. Nope, 466 dives and still haven't seen one. So for all you new and potential divers, remember: The 99.99999% of all divers who disagree with me are wrong. I am right.

 

[NoDecoBob]

I've recently had a horrible experience with customer service in a large sporting goods store in Las Vegas. I have to admit, I do not believe the store was 100% to blame, but they (or their policy) certainly contributed. In my opinion, PADI was just as responsible for the issue as was the store. It is nice to see the skit produced in this thread accurately define the retail dive industry. It is also nice to see that I'm not the only one that despises it.

Let us also not forget that PADI facilitates this behavior. Is it me, or has anyone ever noticed how PADI's stringent standards are not published anywhere for the diving public to see? This so-called "standard" is vaguely passed to PADI instructors in some secret-society-type ceremony, and then passed onto the diving public - however loosely translated by said and so-called diving professional - so as to bilk the money from the public enthusiast. It is no wonder that interest in the sport is waning.

But I think there may be some good news to come from all of this. I think the diving public, however misguided by PADI, is starting to realize that PADI is not the end-all in diver education. PADI is not the dive police. PADI is not the all omnipotent essence of SCUBA knowledge. They are a business. One that makes it's bread and butter using a pyramid type marketing program (and quite successfully, I might add) to give a phony rank to its interpretation of diver skill, and indoctrinates its customers into a card-carrying cult that, however insignificant, has as much value as our country's current monetary policy...built on paper, and valued less.

Has anyone got any tricky acronyms for NAUI? Because "Put Another Dollar In" and "Pay Another Dive Instructor" fit PADI all too well.

And how about that term "LIABILITY"? Is anyone sick of hearing that bull**** excuse? The ONLY person that is responsible for me when I enter the water as a "certified" diver is....you guessed it....ME. Not some jack-off in a blue shirt and khaki hat that has 31 plastic cards with pictures of Manta Rays and Whale Sharks in his pretty dive log, with a matching ego. The first thing I did when I signed up for my last class (and I do mean my LAST class) is sign a release of liability...yet in order to be sold a class by a PADI "professional" we are told that some dive resorts wont allow you in the water if you don't have a specific rating due to "liablity reasons". Bull**** tactics to sell more classes. I personally have had my log book inspected by dive operators to satisfy their PADI induced apprehension. But by the same token...I've seen dive operators put people in gear and on boats that weren't able to produce C cards when they signed up for the trip. When I inquired as to "why" they would do that, the answer was a resounding "they signed a release of liability". I also made the judgement call to get scheduled on a different boat than those folks too.

I've had the opportunity to meet some great folks from this board at some very cool places on this planet (Doc in Key Largo, March of this year - Paul the Astronomer in Cozumel, January of this year - Rich and Dianne in Roatan this year)...this is what keeps me diving...It's hanging out with people like these that inspire me to learn more about the sport I love...but I have lost the flavor of obtaining that education from so-called "professional associations". It is clear that my education is only of business interest to them.

Off to Bonaire in November! Display a C card, pay the money, get the combination to the tank room door and shore dive my butt off at my own schedule, without the interference, influence, or control of that guy in the blue shirt and khaki hat.

Robert
NAUI Scuba Diver - 1984
NAUI Advanced Scuba Diver - 1992
PADI Advanced Open Water Diver - 2013
PADI Rescue Diver - 2014

 

[dmoore19]

Nice Rant from a new user.

 

[RJP]

Nice Rant from a new user.

I wonder if that chip on his shoulder effects his buoyancy?



Regards,

Ray Purkis

 

[TMHeimer]

And they don't know how to crank the magneto on a telephone, either. It's amazing how much knowledge is being lost in this new generation.

Or was that my generation? I can't remember.

I don't know John....I think we're in the same age range and when you said crank the magneto I thought that was some new i poddy thingy.