How old are you?

[NedRyerson]

related but - I was in the mist of switching web hosting for my duo with wife. Anyone who’s done this knows it’s a challenge. So, my wife says to me over the weekend, why do we need a website? In her words regarding a website for us “why do we need a website? No one uses them any more. Everyone is on Facebook (I’m not a member thank you). Websites are like email. No one does that anymore either. It’s all texting”. So my guess is young folks are hngin* somewhere else. Ticktock?

This is likely the most accurate assessment of any message board/forum population. Even FB is the realm of an older demographic. E-mail is more of a relic of business communication and not the domain of those younger than 30 (typically speaking, of course; there are always outliers).

Or a dumping ground for receipts for online purchases....which is really not as necessary anymore either as you can get a copy of your receipt and tracking numbers through the online account you used to buy the thing in the first place. Or get a notification via your app on your phone.

Forums are old tech for old timers like us. Tribal knowledge & research are just a Google search away and a lot of it is available through someone's YouTube channel; no need to find a forum for a post made in 2007 that may or may not be outdated (and then necroposting to ask the OP what they discovered....16 years ago). Distribution of one's materials are through IG or TT. Communication is through DMs on Twitter, IG, TT, Snapchat, WhatsApp, etc. (and if one doesn't know what I mean by any of that, it's proving the point).

I understand the stubborn refusal to get onboard with these new trends (same argument as with music; the presumption that kids today don't know what rock is anymore or that what they're playing is garbage is a tiresome retread of the same foolishness we were told when we were younger). But time is just going to keep moving forward, with or without us. Refusing to embrace new technology isn't revolutionary (and I mean the obstinate, obtuse form of refusal, the grumpy arms crossed "I'm not gonna do it!!!! These kids today don't know poopie!" declarations, not the "I don't understand it, I know I'm not the target market anymore, and honestly can't spare the mental energy to learn it" type of more self-reflection).

Society isn't going to slam on the brakes, look at the grouchy 60-year-old guy who's wagging a finger saying "I told ya so!" and shift into reverse to go back to the '80s. Or '70s.

Or '00s, really (how bad does that sting? ).

(disclosure: I'm almost 50 but have been employed in public education for well over 20 years and have seen the "kids today" grow and evolve into amazing people doing innovating and wondrous things that grumpy old farts like ourselves might never have considered)

 

[Nev375]

So, the lingering question I have is where are the younger players hanging? I certainly hope young people are embracing music as we have since our younger years. We didn’t have the choices or distractions that children face today. Do younger people have enough attention span to learn a music instrument??? Three Channels on a B&W TV on a good day, no AC, couldn’t wait to get outside and play kickball, etc and music! Remember tapping one or two nickels to a turn table needle to slow the LP down, then retune to it. LOL

related but - I was in the mist of switching web hosting for my duo with wife. Anyone who’s done this knows it’s a challenge. So, my wife says to me over the weekend, why do we need a website? In her words regarding a website for us “why do we need a website? No one uses them any more. Everyone is on Facebook (I’m not a member thank you). Websites are like email. No one does that anymore either. It’s all texting”. So my guess is young folks are hngin* somewhere else. Ticktock?

I'm younger than you but still Identify as a geezer. Those whippersnappers keep calling me "boomer" though I'm firmly a Gen Xer. Little punks need to get off my damned lawn already, but I digress.

You bring up some very valid questions. My unscientific opinion on it is that no, in general, kids these days don't have the attention span or interest in learning an instrument. A few do, and you don't have to look very hard on youtube to find examples of young people just killing it at music. But overall, I think the interest in music and musicianship is down by quite a lot from back in my day. And I think that trend is going to continue for the forseable future.

If you asked me why, I'd point the blame at two particular phenomena. One, the coddleization of youth with participation trophies and the ever rising valueing of personal opinions and the entitled attitude that comes with that kind of mental conditioning. Mind you, that's not their fault. Our generation is the one that raised them that way. (...Once again, I want to remind the keyboard warriors who's hackles I may be ruffling, that I'm speaking in gross generalities here. I know how easy it is to find examples to counterract this argument. Also, I'm not claiming to be be an expert on the subject. I'm just tossing out a perspective. An opinion. I'm comfortable with people disagreeing with me. I'm not interested in an argument. Neither the 5 minute one nor did I book the half hour one. I'm just an old man yelling at clouds and I'm not ashamed of that.)

The second phenomena I would blame is technology. We live in a world of easily available ProTools and AutoTunes and other assorted electronic easy-button gizmos. So why should any kid develop a sense of perserverance or fighting against the struggle? Of course, a few kids seem to be born with that gene, and good on them! But why should a generation value that when you can be so easily rewarded with social media likes by simply reacting to things online in a novel way? And don't even get me started on the role A.I. is going to play in all this. Will concerts of the future just be a laptop sitting on a stool on stage patched into the P.A.? I'm joking of course. Why should anyone leave the house? The laptop will have a podcast on youTube!

So where are the kids hanging out? I dunno. What social media app is all the rage this month or do they last an entire year at a time now? I'm at the age where time becomes more illusionary. I stopped counting. I think there's a good possibility that if they are successfully learning an instrument in the real world they may not be as attached to social media and online forums like we are here.

I don't think it's all a bad thing though. Despite the "kids-these-days" tone of my rant above I know that things go in cycles. Mistakes will be made, things will be learned and future generations will adopt values in opposition to the previous ones. Teenagers gotta rebel against their oppressive parents! The pendulum will swing back again one day and there will be a future generation who admires musical talent and genuine human creativity. We will have rockstars of some sort once again. But I have no idea what sort of instruments they will play. Probably not guitars or basses. I'm certain there will be drummers though! They are as eternal as cockroaches.

 

[Deleted member 394181]

Mi español es mal tambien y vivo en Peru . Close enough.

Vas??

 

[Zooberwerx]

65 in July. Need to go apply for my Medicare card in a few weeks, maybe my SSI. Might have to hang-on for another year or so as the market bites and I really don't want to be siphoning-off funds from my 401k in this climate. If they'd lift the income restrictions (~20k) on age 65 retirement, I may have a fighting chance.

Word of advice to the younger folks: now's the time to be socking-away funds for your golden years.

Riis

 

[Marko 1]

66 in about six weeks.

Retired for a few years now, and enjoying the experience.

 

[bobyoung53]

Vas??

Si vamos!

 

[TyBo]

I'm younger than you but still Identify as a geezer. Those whippersnappers keep calling me "boomer" though I'm firmly a Gen Xer. Little punks need to get off my damned lawn already, but I digress.

You bring up some very valid questions. My unscientific opinion on it is that no, in general, kids these days don't have the attention span or interest in learning an instrument. A few do, and you don't have to look very hard on youtube to find examples of young people just killing it at music. But overall, I think the interest in music and musicianship is down by quite a lot from back in my day. And I think that trend is going to continue for the forseable future.

If you asked me why, I'd point the blame at two particular phenomena. One, the coddleization of youth with participation trophies and the ever rising valueing of personal opinions and the entitled attitude that comes with that kind of mental conditioning. Mind you, that's not their fault. Our generation is the one that raised them that way. (...Once again, I want to remind the keyboard warriors who's hackles I may be ruffling, that I'm speaking in gross generalities here. I know how easy it is to find examples to counterract this argument. Also, I'm not claiming to be be an expert on the subject. I'm just tossing out a perspective. An opinion. I'm comfortable with people disagreeing with me. I'm not interested in an argument. Neither the 5 minute one nor did I book the half hour one. I'm just an old man yelling at clouds and I'm not ashamed of that.)

The second phenomena I would blame is technology. We live in a world of easily available ProTools and AutoTunes and other assorted electronic easy-button gizmos. So why should any kid develop a sense of perserverance or fighting against the struggle? Of course, a few kids seem to be born with that gene, and good on them! But why should a generation value that when you can be so easily rewarded with social media likes by simply reacting to things online in a novel way? And don't even get me started on the role A.I. is going to play in all this. Will concerts of the future just be a laptop sitting on a stool on stage patched into the P.A.? I'm joking of course. Why should anyone leave the house? The laptop will have a podcast on youTube!

So where are the kids hanging out? I dunno. What social media app is all the rage this month or do they last an entire year at a time now? I'm at the age where time becomes more illusionary. I stopped counting. I think there's a good possibility that if they are successfully learning an instrument in the real world they may not be as attached to social media and online forums like we are here.

I don't think it's all a bad thing though. Despite the "kids-these-days" tone of my rant above I know that things go in cycles. Mistakes will be made, things will be learned and future generations will adopt values in opposition to the previous ones. Teenagers gotta rebel against their oppressive parents! The pendulum will swing back again one day and there will be a future generation who admires musical talent and genuine human creativity. We will have rockstars of some sort once again. But I have no idea what sort of instruments they will play. Probably not guitars or basses. I'm certain there will be drummers though! They are as eternal as cockroaches.

This subject has been touched on before here at TB. I think there' are even more fundamental factors at work. In particular, music education - not so much in the formal reading of notes sense, but more in the basic "The kids are all gonna have an instrument in their hands, or at hand, and have some basic instruction" sense. A piano in every home, lessons routinely given, as used to be the case years ago. School choir, band, church choir, music classes ... used to be automatic that kids grew up with music making as a tangible presence in their lives at least to some degree.

Why is there more need now for autotune? Because the infrastructure is no longer in place for automatic exposure to hearing and holding a note, in a setting where NOT hitting that note will be noticed. Kids may still get private lessons, and SOME schools may have bands, but that's not the sort of universal exposure that used to exist. It's not funded the way it used to be and society has changed. Lots more distractions now too, another piece of the puzzle.

Blaming young people, as a whole, for not learning music as used to happen is like blaming a dog for not knowing where to poop when it hasn't been trained. Fruitless, and it annoys the dog.

And that's my rant at the clouds today.

 

[Tom Bomb]

Do the emerging blue veins here and there mean that, in truth, I mold? If it's true, then I guess I mold — I'm in that mould.

Don't panic, I say to myself. Does wonders for the microbiome. There's always a plus
​

 

[Deleted member 394181]

I think DJ's are not musicians! There I said it. Also, I'm one of the last of the Boomers. I didn't raise, or have anything to do with generation that came after me. Stop using " Boomers" in a derogatory way, please..

Si vamos!

No vato.

 

[mike o]

Hello - not sure where the idea was that we are blaming younger people. Having musical abilities has been proven to help us in other areas of life skills. It’s also a gift you can enjoy pretty much your whole live vs say a sport! It makes me sad to think the younger generations are not embracing music more. Blame would be heavily weighted more to the internet quick click gratification than the people. Just the world we live in now.

Blaming young people, as a whole, for not learning music as used to happen is like blaming a dog for not knowing where to poop when it hasn't been trained. Fruitless, and it annoys the dog.

And that's my rant at the clouds today.

 

[Deleted member 394181]

This subject has been touched on before here at TB. I think there' are even more fundamental factors at work. In particular, music education - not so much in the formal reading of notes sense, but more in the basic "The kids are all gonna have an instrument in their hands, or at hand, and have some basic instruction" sense. A piano in every home, lessons routinely given, as used to be the case years ago. School choir, band, church choir, music classes ... used to be automatic that kids grew up with music making as a tangible presence in their lives at least to some degree.

Why is there more need now for autotune? Because the infrastructure is no longer in place for automatic exposure to hearing and holding a note, in a setting where NOT hitting that note will be noticed. Kids may still get private lessons, and SOME schools may have bands, but that's not the sort of universal exposure that used to exist. It's not funded the way it used to be and society has changed. Lots more distractions now too, another piece of the puzzle.

Blaming young people, as a whole, for not learning music as used to happen is like blaming a dog for not knowing where to poop when it hasn't been trained. Fruitless, and it annoys the dog.

And that's my rant at the clouds today.

When I was a kid there was all kinds of TV shows geared towards Guitar music. Cartoons, primetime, Saturday mornings. No internet meant TV shows were King. I think it all derived from The Beatles. Who have young people had since?

 

[TyBo]

Hello - not sure where the idea was that we are blaming younger people. Having musical abilities has been proven to help us in other areas of life skills. It’s also a gift you can enjoy pretty much your whole live vs say a sport! It makes me sad to think the younger generations are not embracing music more. Blame would be heavily weighted more to the internet quick click gratification than the people. Just the world we live in now.

My point is that there have been structural factors in getting us to the world we live in now, choices, either conscious or unconscious, in allocations of resources, such that exposure to music making is not automatic in the way that it once was. Add in the myriad new distractions that exist, and voila!

 

[Nev375]

Blaming young people, as a whole, for not learning music as used to happen is like blaming a dog for not knowing where to poop when it hasn't been trained. Fruitless, and it annoys the dog.

And that's my rant at the clouds today.

I'm not sure if you were suggesting I was blaming young people or you were talking in a more broad sense that geezers around here blame young people. But I very clearly placed the blame on the older generation in the post you quoted. Not the young people. So I agree with you about the dog poop analogy. That's the point I was making as well.

Just felt like I was being misquoted there.

...Stupid clouds!

 

[CharleyJackson]

I'm making my way into the 70s group (move over, hahahaa).
Very happy to see so many answering the poll who are in the 59 and under groups! Lucky bastards!
Rock on!!!!!

 

[Jon Lars]

Juuuust ripe enough.

 

[RoadieP]

I'm younger than you but still Identify as a geezer. Those whippersnappers keep calling me "boomer" though I'm firmly a Gen Xer. Little punks need to get off my damned lawn already, but I digress.

I'm 40 and these kids have been calling be a boomer for several years. I was so confused

 

[rtslinger]

"64" First show in grade school at 10 years old Upright. First Electric bass guitar gig at 13 in a club, never stopped playing.

 

[Michedelic]

I'm 40 and these kids have been calling be a boomer for several years. I was so confused

The minute you’re over 30, you might as well be 100.

 

[vanderbe]

For the 70+ crowd Per Dave Letterman:

The Top Ten ways a musician knows he's getting older...#10) It becomes more important to find a place on stage for your fan than for your amp, #9) You have to stop the song because your ibuprofen fell behind the speaker, #8) All your fans have to leave by 9:30, #7) You check the tv schedule before booking a gig, #6) You need a nap before, during and after the gig, #5) The only Rolling Stones you care about are in your gallbladder, #4) You start listing your truss as a business expense, #3) The only white powder you have is on your feet, #2) You actually ask the guitar player to turn up, And The Number One... You don't recover from a Saturday night gig until Tuesday.

 

[Deleted member 394181]

One bar I played at already had a huge floor fan. Of course I commandeered it.