The life and death of hobbies...

DoogsATX

 

Bgrigg:

 

Kids don't have time for hobbies today, they have to post about each bowel movement and random thought pattern on MyFacebook and Twitter, and then text their friends about it.

 

 

Don't buy it. 

Facebook, Twitter, texting etc are just evolutions in communications technology. It's not like kids/teenagers just started spending every waking moment communicating with one another. 10-15 years ago it was instant messaging and chat rooms. Before that it was the phone. I remember getting fussed at for spending too much time on the phone...looking back I can't honestly imagine how I ever spent four hours on the phone with one person, even if it was a cute girl. 

If anything's pulling kids out of other hobbies, I think you'd do a lot better to finger video games.

I agree. Know why? Because they pull me out of my hobby and I'm not a kid. I just bought Call of Duty: Black Ops. How am I going to finish my models now?

Manstein's revenge

 

oddmanrush:

 

 

Manstein's revenge:

I hear a lot of moaning about our hobby dying in various threads...Got me to thinking while sitting in my cold Command Bunker...what hobbies are you aware of that have gone extinct, or seriosuly declined to the point that maybe one or two people are the only ones still engaged in it...? 

Hand wringing and phrases like, "We need more young people in our hobby." are not allowed in your reply...

 

 

Good question, Manny but I think there is a difficulty answering it

 

Well I didn't ask it because it would be easy to answer...think harder, mofo's...

...how about embroidering the backs of blue jean jackets?

I don't think that is a hobby as much as a preference in style. Embroidering certainly still exists.

Homebrewing Beer.

I used to do this 10 years ago, but with the explosion of craft beers since 1995, this has really gone downhill. A lot of local brew shops have closed and now you have to get most everything off the internet (sound familiar?)

If modeling is declining so much, why are model companies coming out with so many new releases? It might be declining in the US, but looks like in Asia it is still strong.

Table top Role Playing Games are far less common than they used to be, although painting gaming miniatures still seems to be going strong.

iraqiwildman

Homebrewing Beer.

I used to do this 10 years ago, but with the explosion of craft beers since 1995, this has really gone downhill. A lot of local brew shops have closed and now you have to get most everything off the internet (sound familiar?)

If modeling is declining so much, why are model companies coming out with so many new releases? It might be declining in the US, but looks like in Asia it is still strong.

I believe that the European and Asian markets are whats keeping our modeling hobby as strong as it is now.  The walmarts and targets in my area and one toys r us, that i know of,  no longer carries ANY models (or anything related).  Hobbylobby, a huge hobby store, is also very limited on models (trains, plastic, rockets).  speaking of...  I have also seen a huge decline in model rockets.  Too many burn bans!

I also see the model train community is worried about their hobby dying.

I wonder if there were discussions 10 or 20 years ago about this hobby dying?

HawkeyeHobbies

Taxidermy has taken a huge hit.

Reloading ammo...costs are too high in comparison to purchasing ready made.

not in this area....ready made ammo is ridiculously expensive

Somewhere around 30 years ago the first widely available video games appeared. It's been down hill ever since. Initial investment is more but video games take up a lot less room, the parents don't have to participate, and interest is renewed (ie; gets rid of the kid) by the simple introduction of a new game.
I personally think parents are more the cause of hobbies getting weaker. As adults we worry about money and how to make it, prefering to spend time at work rather than with the family or the kids. What little time is left is spent eating and sleeping, mowing the lawn, cleaning the house, and paying bills.
If the kids grow up seeing mom or  dad enjoying a relaxing and exciting hobby they are much more likely to find enjoyment in that activity when they themselves are adults.
My dad didn't build models and only once sat down at the dining table and began putting together a kit I got for my birthday when I was probably nine. He didn't really enjoy it and never finished it but the spark caught and I have loved modeling ever since. My uncle continued to foster the love of the hobby and the rest is history. Ofcourse, Baa Baa Black Sheep helped a lot too.

HawkeyeHobbies

Reloading ammo...costs are too high in comparison to purchasing ready made.

I don't know how you're doing it. But reloading is still WAY cheaper than buying factory loads. All the components have gone up in price significantly, but so have factory ammo loads. Shooting as a hobby is seeing some decline due to costs though.

People say camping and other outdoor sports are dying, they aren't. People say Boy Scouts is dying. It isn't. It is changing and not in ways an eagle scout from 12 or so years ago (me) likes but it is far from dead.

paintsniffer

 

People say camping and other outdoor sports are dying, they aren't. People say Boy Scouts is dying. It isn't. It is changing and not in ways an eagle scout from 12 or so years ago (me) likes but it is far from dead.

O yea, boy scouts is very much still alive.  We've had at least 2 eagle scouts come out of our troop the last 4 consecutive years, my self included

DoogsATX

Meh. People have been wringing their hands about "kids these days" since Cicero, and probably well before. Or, as my brother calls it, "grumpy old man talk".

As for sewing...my wife (28) sews, and it's actually pretty popular among her cadre of mom friends in that blurred zone between Gen X and Y.

Hobbies that have declined - stamp collecting, coin collecting. Baseball cards. Not exactly a hobby, but Boy Scouts. Building every ship in the Royal Navy out of matchsticks...

Collecting sports cards is certainly on a down slide as described in THIS recent article. I used to collect hockey cards up until college when I realized it was taking up a lot of money and space. I do however still have every card I ever collected over the years. Probably aren't going any where any time soon either. Back in 2005 I used to work at a sports memorabilia shop in the mall. I was constantly amazed how much coin people would drop on these cards.

The hobby has changed though. What started as a way for kids to learn about players and the game, not to mention build a little collection, has turned into a way for adults to make a tiny investment. The industry has changed too, creating not only run of the mill cards but making cards more valuable. Putting swatches of game used gear in a card can increase the value, many fold. Autographed cards, numbered cards, misprinted cards, etc are all on a collectors watch list. But adding value to the product has increased prices. I wasn't willing to drop 25-30$ on a single pack of cards with a chance of scoring a Sidney Crosby signed rookie card.

oddmanrush

 

 

Collecting sports cards is certainly on a down slide as described in THIS recent article. I used to collect hockey cards up until college when I realized it was taking up a lot of money and space. I do however still have every card I ever collected over the years. Probably aren't going any where any time soon either. Back in 2005 I used to work at a sports memorabilia shop in the mall. I was constantly amazed how much coin people would drop on these cards.

The hobby has changed though. What started as a way for kids to learn about players and the game, not to mention build a little collection, has turned into a way for adults to make a tiny investment. The industry has changed too, creating not only run of the mill cards but making cards more valuable. Putting swatches of game used gear in a card can increase the value, many fold. Autographed cards, numbered cards, misprinted cards, etc are all on a collectors watch list. But adding value to the product has increased prices. I wasn't willing to drop 25-30$ on a single pack of cards with a chance of scoring a Sidney Crosby signed rookie card.

My dad's a big sports memorabilia collector. It's ridiculous some of the stuff he has in his collection. When I was a kid, I went to baseball card shows with him all the time. This was in the 80s when baseball cards got VERY popular. I think it's actually around when baseball cards got caught up in that speculative bubble. Then the card makers started printing more and coming out with eleventy billion special edition cards (thanks, Upper Deck) and the whole thing collapsed on itself like, well, a house of cards.

Didn't know they were putting swatches of game-used gear in...kinda sad really. Makes me miss the days when baseball cards were all about getting your favorite player or your entire team, or that one rookie card. To me the valuable cards were always a happy accident.

Another thought - is collecting beanie babies dead? Please?

Bgrigg

bbrowniii:

Not sure it would qualify as a 'hobby' per se, but here in the northeast there has been a big decline in the number of hunters in recent years.

 

Ever since the "Fairness Hunting Law" went into effect and armed the local White Tail population, it should have been expected. Who could have guessed that the four pointers would practice shooting so diligently?

They(deer) are much smarter than you'd think. They do strike back!!!

I think some hobbies don't die.. they just cycle around... Like my model building.. As a kid and early to mid teen I built alot... then,, early 20s..to mid 30s.. especialy the 20s,, I faded away from it,, as my life settled down some.. I drifted back into.. now, I am full bore again,, as much as my job,, and firefighting, life and family allow..

So, what ever hobby your in now.. or was in.. or know someone else was in.. might be in a recession right now, waiting for the boom.~!

Cosmic J

Table top Role Playing Games are far less common than they used to be, although painting gaming miniatures still seems to be going strong.

 

 

Those and the old Avalon Hill/SSI board games are pretty much history, too. Remember Panzer Blitz and the rest of that ilk?

p38jl

do  I see a Dead Hobby badge in the future???..

Here ya go... heeheehee!

ModelNerd

p38jl:

do  I see a Dead Hobby badge in the future???..

 

 

Here ya go... heeheehee!

what about kids just getting outside and playing football or baseball in the street?  All my kids wanted to do was play video games.  Then I hear, "I dont have amy friends" .   Well get the heck outside and meet some!!  I mowed lawns when I was a kid.  They dont want to work for anything.  give me give me,  If my parents saw me before dark, my friends had plans with their parents.  I could go on about this topic.

phoneguy

Then I hear, "I dont have amy friends" .   

sorry, fat fingers and i didn't read it before posting.  it's suppose to be "any". 

go to the happy place!!

I have heard about one hobby that's native here in Florida, but is now down to it's last 10 or so hobbyists:

Worm grunting. (where you use a metal pole and a wooden stick to call woms to come to the surface)

I havn't done it myself, but I've been wanting to learn to do it since I saw it on the Discovery Channel a while back.

Railfan 233

I have heard about one hobby that's native here in Florida, but is now down to it's last 10 or so hobbyists:

Worm grunting. (where you use a metal pole and a wooden stick to call woms to come to the surface)

I havn't done it myself, but I've been wanting to learn to do it since I saw it on the Discovery Channel a while back.

 

WTF ????

gotta agree, WTF???  I used a metal rod with one lead off an extention cord to draw worms up as a kid.  explain.

p38jl

Railfan 233:

I have heard about one hobby that's native here in Florida, but is now down to it's last 10 or so hobbyists:

Worm grunting. (where you use a metal pole and a wooden stick to call woms to come to the surface)

I havn't done it myself, but I've been wanting to learn to do it since I saw it on the Discovery Channel a while back.

 

 

 

WTF ????

Yes, Wrom Grunting. You go out in the early morning with a wooden stick and a piece of metal, and you call the worms up.

I beleave it was on Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe.

Here's a video I found on Youtube.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FK-Oo7NwPiQ

I ain't lying, you see?

i remember seeing that on Dirty Jobs.  forgot about that one!

I witnessed "worm grunting" once...it was in a U-boat R&R complex outside of Nice, France during the summer of '43...I was drunk...

Go figure, a german not drunk??!! 

Vee have vays on making u talk.

Ham Radio and Citizens Band radio clubs used to be real popular in the 70's and early 80's, but you hardly hear anything about those groups anymore.  I suppose they are still out there somewhere.

Manstein's revenge

I hear a lot of moaning about our hobby dying in various threads...Got me to thinking while sitting in my cold Command Bunker...what hobbies are you aware of that have gone extinct, or seriosuly declined to the point that maybe one or two people are the only ones still engaged in it...? 

Hand wringing and phrases like, "We need more young people in our hobby." are not allowed in your reply...

I'll let ol' Jimmy say it...

hkshooter

I personally think parents are more the cause of hobbies getting weaker. As adults we worry about money and how to make it, prefering to spend time at work rather than with the family or the kids. What little time is left is spent eating and sleeping, mowing the lawn, cleaning the house, and paying bills.
If the kids grow up seeing mom or  dad enjoying a relaxing and exciting hobby they are much more likely to find enjoyment in that activity when they themselves are adults.

I think there is truth in what you say, but it is a little overly simplistic.  A lot of people may want to spend time with their kids, but that is a luxury they don't have (or have as much as they'd like) because the do have to worry about money.  They may not prefer spending time at work, but they HAVE to spend more time at work.  I spend more time time that I'd ideally like at my jobs,  but the weekend is, mostly, family time.  That being said, since it is family time, I rarely do any modeling, since that is a more solitary endeavor.  Still, my kids know I build models and have been excited to build the 'Snap-tite' kits I've brought home to them.