# What Hobbies Are Going to Experience a Demographic Crunch? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 28, 2025, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-hobbies-are-going-to-experience-a-demographic-crunch/1023445 "2025-09-28T01:07:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2025, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-hobbies-are-going-to-experience-a-demographic-crunch/1023445/81 "2025-09-28T19:32:35Z")
> [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > Dinner parties would often end with a few rubbers. [Even that is trending downwards](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/search/research-news/10214/). ---
**Author:** ![Ancient\_Nerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed655f/32.png) [@Ancient\_Nerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ancient_Nerd)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2025, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-hobbies-are-going-to-experience-a-demographic-crunch/1023445/82 "2025-09-28T20:08:07Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > My understanding from talking to older relatives, etc that back in the 1950s to 1960s a lot of male teenagers liked to work on their cars (modifying them one way or another, souping them up…). I don’t see this happening nowadays. Anyone know about this? One of the ways to soup up a car was to replace the original exhaust manifold with headers. With the introduction of catalytic converters that doesn’t work anymore. You won’t pass the next smog check. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2025, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-hobbies-are-going-to-experience-a-demographic-crunch/1023445/83 "2025-09-28T20:15:50Z")
Oh dear! ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2025, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-hobbies-are-going-to-experience-a-demographic-crunch/1023445/84 "2025-09-28T20:54:15Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > In terms of gardening there are two basic reasons people do it: as a hobby they enjoy and as a way to cut food expenditures. Can’t it also be a way of getting better food? Lots of people grow tomatoes they claim are tastier than what they sell in the supermarket. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2025, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-hobbies-are-going-to-experience-a-demographic-crunch/1023445/85 "2025-09-28T21:08:47Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Can’t it also be a way of getting better food? Lots of people grow tomatoes they claim are tastier than what they sell in the supermarket. I’d put that firmly in the hobby category. Most people I know with gardens like to eat what they grow. ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2025, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-hobbies-are-going-to-experience-a-demographic-crunch/1023445/86 "2025-09-28T21:11:46Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > It’s less of a game and more of a pageant to show off your painted miniatures I kinda got this feeling too. My “people” kept bringing up how “inexpensive” figures & paints were. . . Hell, my 20 Ton _Flea_ wout _toast_ a company of Space Marines. Tripler Yeah, I went there . . . ---
**Author:** ![XOldiesJock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ec9cab/32.png) [@XOldiesJock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XOldiesJock)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2025, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-hobbies-are-going-to-experience-a-demographic-crunch/1023445/87 "2025-09-28T21:36:42Z")
> [@gkster](#): > > _And one dying hobby is shortwave radio_ Oh yes. Shortwave Listening, or SWL. When I was a geeky teenager my hobby was “DXing,” sitting in front of an AM + Shortwave radio from the 40s that I rescued from my grandparents’ attic, picking out international broadcasters from the static and sending them reception reports in the hopes of receiving a QSL card in reply. I still have them, dozens of them, from shortwave stations and AM radio stations around the country and around the world. It was a fun hobby and educational too. I still have the radio, and it still works. Unfortunately, as you say, many international broadcasters have turned off their transmitters in favor of “broadcasting” on the web. And there’s so much man-made electrical interference nowadays that the AM and SW bands are nothing but noise. As recently as 20 or so years ago I would get up in the morning, pop on the shortwave radio and listen to the news on the BBC World Service, rolling in like a local from its Canadian relay. Sure, today I can listen to “The Beeb” on-line, and I often do, but it’s just not the same. (Sigh) ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2025, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-hobbies-are-going-to-experience-a-demographic-crunch/1023445/88 "2025-09-28T22:09:32Z")
When I was a kid, we played Dominoes. Is that still a thing? The last time I heard it mentioned was in Ocean’s 13 (2007). ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2025, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-hobbies-are-going-to-experience-a-demographic-crunch/1023445/89 "2025-09-28T22:24:58Z")
I’m pretty sure dominoes is still big in the African-American community. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2025, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-hobbies-are-going-to-experience-a-demographic-crunch/1023445/90 "2025-09-28T22:28:15Z")
I only know Dominos as the things you knock over in chain reactions, never once IRL seen it played as a game. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2025, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-hobbies-are-going-to-experience-a-demographic-crunch/1023445/91 "2025-09-28T22:30:11Z")
> [@F.U.Shakespeare](#): > > When I was a kid, we played Dominoes. Is that still a thing? The last time I heard it mentioned was in Ocean’s 13 (2007). It’s fairly popular in the African American community though I can’t attest to it’s popularity among its youth. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2025, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-hobbies-are-going-to-experience-a-demographic-crunch/1023445/92 "2025-09-28T22:33:23Z")
> [@XOldiesJock](#): > > I just thought of this old timey hobby today. When I was a kid there were three men within two blocks who were amateur radio operators, or “HAMS.” I have been mulling over doing a YouTube video on this topic for a few months now; it’s a fun story. I was a licensed ham at 13, and it was super cool to have an alternate life outside of school: at night I would turn on that big old National NCX3 and start keying in “CQ CQ CQ…” and talk to people a few states away (or even Canada). I had a 40-meter dipole antenna out back, so no chatting with Europe, but at that time Canada was just as distant in my mind. Meanwhile, unknown to me, dark clouds were forming: There had been a few casual comments of “television interference” from a neighbor, and I suspect other neighbors were soon going to make their objections more concrete. Apparently it was coming to a head because one random day my mom gave me a brand new Commodore VIC-20 computer, with a catch: “The radio goes.” So one old-time hobby was unceremoniously shown the door while an up-an-coming one came to the forefront and put food on my table for the past 35 years. I gotta get around to doing that video. That’s the kind of one that would take a month to glean more than a hundred views, but I still want to do it. > [@F.U.Shakespeare](#): > > When I was a kid, we played Dominoes. Is that still a thing? I think dominos are popular in Latin American communities. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2025, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-hobbies-are-going-to-experience-a-demographic-crunch/1023445/93 "2025-09-28T23:21:55Z")
> [@N9IWP](#): > > Amateur Radio skews old, I would guess most younger hams are only in it due to their parents. I have a cousin a year or two older than me who’s a ham… but yeah, she asked to be assigned our grandfather’s old call sign. And I think that most of the youngsters who would have been kitbashing models are now doing 3D printing, instead. Which still isn’t a very large share of the population, but then again, kitbashing never was, either (the people who just buy a model and put it together as-is are probably equivalent to the folks who just print the models they download off of Thingiverse). ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2025, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-hobbies-are-going-to-experience-a-demographic-crunch/1023445/94 "2025-09-29T00:13:21Z")
Really? We played it a lot when I was a kid, ~50 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2025, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-hobbies-are-going-to-experience-a-demographic-crunch/1023445/95 "2025-09-29T00:22:04Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > > [@F.U.Shakespeare](#): > > > > When I was a kid, we played Dominoes. Is that still a thing? The last time I heard it mentioned was in Ocean’s 13 (2007). > > It’s fairly popular in the African American community though I can’t attest to it’s popularity among its youth. Also in the Spanish-speaking Caribbean community (Cubans, Dominicans, Puerto Ricans). ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2025, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-hobbies-are-going-to-experience-a-demographic-crunch/1023445/96 "2025-09-29T00:30:14Z")
Yeah, I remember reading that Fidel Castro early on was known for long games of Dominoes with his comrades. ---
**Author:** ![DMC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dmc/32/18049_2.png) [@DMC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMC)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2025, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-hobbies-are-going-to-experience-a-demographic-crunch/1023445/97 "2025-09-29T01:37:47Z")
> [@3AxisCtrl](#): > > Cost is frequently cited as an important reason, but flying has always been expensive and it’s not clear that the relative cost has changed much. At my primary FBO, a C172 with ancient avionics is now $185 wet. I believe ground training is $50. The cost for aircraft has also greatly exceeded inflation. A Cirrus SR20 in 2005 started at around $240k (about $400K in today’s money), yet the current crop of SR20s start at around $750K. Some things, such as headsets, don’t seem to have done the same, but some of that could simply be a mental price ceiling, much like computers until recently. The Bose Aviation Headset X was $995 ($1650 in today’s dollars) in 2005 and the A30 is $1,295 today. So, the relative cost has increased greatly for both renting and owning. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2025, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-hobbies-are-going-to-experience-a-demographic-crunch/1023445/98 "2025-09-29T05:49:10Z")
League Bowling has all but disappeared. I miss it. I won’t miss it if the same thing happens to golfing. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2025, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-hobbies-are-going-to-experience-a-demographic-crunch/1023445/99 "2025-09-29T06:06:49Z")
Do you know about this book?: > **[Bowling Alone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowling_Alone)** > > Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community is a 2000 nonfiction book by Robert D. Putnam. It was developed from his 1995 essay entitled "Bowling Alone: America's Declining Social Capital". Putnam surveys the decline of social capital in the United States since 1950. He has described the reduction in all the forms of in-person social intercourse upon which Americans used to found, educate, and enrich the fabric of their social lives. He argues that this undermines the active ci... ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2025, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-hobbies-are-going-to-experience-a-demographic-crunch/1023445/100 "2025-09-29T06:45:23Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > It’s less of a game and more of a pageant to show off your painted miniatures. 90% of my 40K models are still grey plastic… I’m more interested in the game, so mine are playing pieces, not art projects… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-hobbies-are-going-to-experience-a-demographic-crunch/1023445.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-hobbies-are-going-to-experience-a-demographic-crunch/1023445.md?page=6)