Re: Attracting younger members to Vintage Equipment
This is an interesting field that I have studied with my museum hat on and found to demand a certain amount of introspection.
Why do we want young people to take up vintage electronics as a hobby?
Whose interests will it serve - theirs or ours?
Is it even possible for them to have the experiences that we want them to have?
There are certainly some plausible reasons for encouraging a new generation to get involved:
* More constructive and educational than some alternative pursuits that media / peer pressure might direct them towards.
* Possibly a source of lasting pleasure if they get hooked.
* Maintaining a skill and knowledge base that will otherwise be lost, that might have broader applications amongst life skills.
And there are reasons that are mainly for our benefit, that are not per se justification for foisting our interests on others e.g.:
* Keep our beloved sets alive after we're gone.
* Moulding people in our image by having them re-tread our paths.
* Fear of the unknown alternatives that they would pursue instead.
There is no ancient tradition of repairing old radio and TVs, so it is not a pursuit that has a track record of developing the human spirit towards lofty ideals. I think it probably does, like many scientific hobbies, as it encourages clear and rational thought and launches enthusiasts on a quest for knowledge and technique by setting goals that demand genuine effort and commitment to achieve. However vintage electronics is but one field out of thousands, amongst which people who lack the nostalgia for the hardware might identify 'better' uses of their time that offer all these benefits and maybe more.
Did you or do you follow any of the interests and pursuits that your parents enjoyed? Grandparents? We generally have more leisure these days so pretty much anything they did, we could choose to do. But do we?
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