Why aren't more people taking up scuba diving?

[AdivingBel]

...diving doesn't provide as much bang for the buck as, say, video games.

Really?? A few hundred bucks for a box that let's you sit on your couch, eating potato chips, pretending to be in an alien world vs. a thousand bucks or so (used rig and cheap OW class) that ACTUALLY let's you visit an alien world. Hmmm...must be a millennials thing. BTW...hey you kids, get off my lawn!!! Ahhhh, all better.

 

[Lorenzoid]

I do believe, though, as the faux Monty Python sketch sort of points out, that there's a lack of respect for aspiring and new divers. That shows up in dive shops trying to monetize aspiring divers, in n00b bashing right here on SB, and in the patronizing unwillingness to share knowledge (because a little knowledge might be bad, etc) or accept styles of or approaches to diving that don't treat full cave as the pinnacle goal to which everyone should aspire.

I would not mix up what occurs in dive shops with what occurs on SB. I don't think SB has any measurable impact on people taking up diving. I don't think attitudes on SB reflect attitudes of dive shops.

My guess is that the dive shops that leave aspiring divers feeling like they're being "monetized" eventually find themselves out of business, and that most dive shops really do show respect for aspiring divers and want them to succeed and have fun.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Lorenzoid said "Don't confuse what goes on in dive shops to what goes on on SB",
That is absolutely true.
Posters on SB probably do not even make up a fraction of one percent of all divers world wide.
The dive shop world and the dive internet world are two separate parallel universes.
We debate and have a lot of great ideas. Unfortunately the dive shops are the ones more in charge of meeting the new diving public as the first point of contact, and in my opinion many do a pretty miserable job of promoting and selling diving to new prospective candidates. Some of this has to do with no marketing plans other than standing behind the counter and waiting for people to come in.
There are also many cultural changes at play as to the fate of diving.
When diving first became known we were coming out of WWII, there was a lot of growth in many areas of society, there were a lot of new things being invented, new sports/activities, new music, new cars, new social styles. In almost every area of life there was something new and exciting.
Diving was part of that.

All the gear choices and other things we think are making diving unattractive to the youth I don't think have anything to do with it. They're not interested way before they ever learn about such things, they're not getting started in the first place.
Back in the 50's and 60's it was an analog world. There were only 12 channels on TV (if you were lucky), no computers, no smart phones, no video games, and a lot of other things that weren't invented yet. It was a simpler time. Kids actually played outside and took part in actual reality, not virtual reality.

These days there are too many distractions. They are also finding out that life long patterns of behavior are encoded in children very young. What children do in their first five to eight years of life has a huge impact on their behavioral and social patterns later.
All these factors combined are what's killing not only diving but a lot of other sports. Kids are not learning how to be physical at a young age. I see so many restrictions placed on children now for play, at school, in the front yard, etc. for fear of injury or abduction or liability.
Back when I was a kid we had freedom and full reign to play outside as much as we wanted, as long as our homework was done.
We didn't have a TV in my house so all I did was play outside building forts, riding our bikes off home made jumps, breaking bones, etc. kids aren't allowed to do a quarter of the stuff we did and so they have no primer, no encoding for adventure or activity.
That's my take.

 

[TMHeimer]

I grew up really in the 60s and agree. I would also say though that many of the tech. devices and do-hickies we have today were also not around in the 70s, some not here yet in the 80s and even 90s, especially before common use of the internet. Many people even in the 80s had no cable, and way less than 12 analog channels (me for one). I don't know how much more kids are affected by lack of physical activity due to virtual gizmos today as compared to 20-30 years ago. As a teacher back then, I recall hearing the same "complaints" from fellow teachers.

 

[Storker]

Bubbleblower

We all blow bubbles (except for the freedivers and the 'breather pilots of course). I like to blow bubbles; that means that I'm under water

 

[kr2y5]

I still think the problem is that nobody even considers it seriously. How many people actually make it to a dive shop, try a scuba class, or even pause to actually think about it? I only have one data point of my own personal experience, but before I took on scuba diving, I have spent a few decades of life in complete unawareness that such a thing as scuba diving even existed anywhere outside of the Discovery channel. Just because one can see some scuba divers on TV or on YouTube does not mean that one will actually register it in one's brain as something that has anything to do with the actual physical reality one lives in. For all practical purposes, scuba divers were fictional characters, like James Bond or Indiana Jones. I haven't thought about taking up scuba until I have actually seen a scuba diver up close during my honey moon. Perhaps it is just my isolated experience. Then again, except for one person, every single one of my friends and coworkers, whom I tried to encourage to try scuba diving reacted in the same way, mentally classifying it the same way as a random story on Facebook, at best something to discuss over lunch and swap out of one's mind 5 minutes later. Not something to enter a part of one's brain that is responsible for contemplating physical possibilities.

 

[Diving Dubai]

I don't believe growing up in an age before computers has a great deal of bearing on the matter. It certainly wasn't the reason I got into diving.

From a UK standpoint one reason people join dive clubs - or at least investigate them is the desire to meet new people, maybe moving to a new city, or wanting to rebuild a circle of friends when newly single as examples. I certainly investigate the club route for these reasons, but it didn't get me into diving purely because of the expense of needing to buy equipment and the lure of British waters wasn't enough.

For me it was a desire triggered by a friend having completed their OW, so I chose to do mine in warm clear waters. Even then I didn't keep it up. Post OW it was 4 more years before I had the opportunity to dive again, and then another 3 further years before I moved to a location where diving was both accessible, and "affordable"

People are move adventurous with their travel and walking down the high street in a tropical location with dive shop after dive shop being there makes people more inclined to have a go?

Some may want to carry out a referral course knowing they're going to a tropical resort and wanting to maximize their holiday time

A high percentage may not dive again, some may wait until their next vacation thus why purchase dive gear? If you are only diving say 10 times a year and you're kit rental is only $30 per day (Egypt price) why would you? Why would you carry your own gear on vacation

Oh I know we could all give reasons why having your own gears is preferable and it's true. But we're also biased because we need to justify to ourselves the rational for spending a ton of money on our own gear.

You also have to ask

"What is the definition of a regular diver?"

I have friends in the UK. They dive regularly. Their definition of regular diving is maybe 20 UK dives per year, and perhaps 1 dive vacation per year with another 20 if they are lucky. So by their measure 30-40 dives per year. Not a bad total? Others might only dive on vacation, they consider that 1 diving vacation per year with 20 dives makes them a regular diver. And so it does.

But we all have different perspectives. They might look at my current total for this year so far of 51 dives as a huge amount, yet I don't consider I've dived a lot I had a vacation with 35 dives which has contributed to that total to it's slightly more than I normally have achieved at this point, but that's immaterial I'm just trying to highlight perspective .

So I would strongly disagree that LESS people are taking up Scuba diving. If anything it is currently more accessible to many more people. I think worldwide more people are able to try it, whether a DSD, or OW. However only the most dedicated wish to pursue the hobby in their own country - their local conditions don't appeal. thus for the most part diveign will only retain the most dedicated

 

[Neilwood]

I think, for a lot of people, conditions at their home dive sites are a disincentive to regular diving.

I did no diving in the winter for the reason it was so damn cold. There is a limit to how warm you can stay especially when the water temperature is near freezing and you are kitting up and de-kitting at the end of a dive in low temperatures as well. I would imagine most UK divers are the same (apart from possibly some pool diving).

Also for UK diving, the amount of kit required is expensive for a new diver. By the time you add up the cost of regs, wet/dry suit (with the undersuit), boots, gloves, BCD, fins, mask, cutter(s), torch(es) etc you won't see a lot of change from £2,000 which is a lot of money for someone new that isn't sure. Add to that the cost of courses and it can mount up to a substantial amount (I realise clubs are cheaper but can take so much longer to reach the same stage).

I must admit that as @Diving Dubai says I will probably get 50 dives this year if I am lucky (20 of which will be on vacation and another 5-10 will be course dives).

 

[Leadking]

I most likely posted most of this before but here is a run-down on the issues I believe are causing the decline in diving;

• More recreational opportunities than ever
• Competition for time
• Computers and smartphone games capturing youth
• Lack of disposable income, cellphones and Internet did not exist a generation ago (think about how much your family spends on these services)
• Constant negative media feed on the oceans i.e. Coral bleaching, oil and plastic pollution, and a decline by 50% of ocean marine life

And that is just a start

 

[TMHeimer]

I didn't take OW until moving to Nova Scotia 11 years ago. No interest in diving in cold dark Northern Manitoba lakes the 25 years I was there. I could've driven 250 miles and taken OW to be a "vacation" diver. Not worth it to me, plus the idea of going somewhere exotic once a year and basically having to review everything (or take a refresher, as I now know of) didn't make sense. I knew all about scuba as growing up, my much older brother used all the old stuff in the 60s diving in Long Island Sound. In my case, it just wasn't really practical, so I went to the tropics and snorkeled for all those years.