Several things act as warnings about the future of our hobby. Today, there was a piece in Southgate News warning of the lack of youngsters entering the hobby in the Netherlands. Although not true everywhere, ours is a hobby mainly populated by older people. This is definitely the case here in the UK. Most club members are grey-haired!!
In general, young people fail to "get the magic" radio was to us years ago. I have discussed this before, but in the age of worldwide video conferencing for free over the internet, young people think radio old fashioned. Our hobby will die unless we attract and keep young people. Clearly what "turns on" youngsters is not the same thing that attracted us. In the early 1960s if you wanted to talk around the world you had to become a radio amateur.
See http://southgatearc.org/news/2017/march/shortage-of-young-dutch-radio-hams.htm#.WMZ8DoXXLIU
It's encouraging to hear that some operators are openly admitting this, but I think that the majority are in denial. Or they want younger people, but only those with the perspective of an elderly person. Others seem to want younger people that "know their place" as inferiors and treat anyone under 30 as dim-witted children.
ReplyDelete