Originally Posted by mazaite

I know this thread has been asleep for a little while but, I felt I had some insight into it.

First the issue of cost. It's pretty expensive to be a young person these days, in both money and time. Young people these days are required to have more just to get by than they did 30 years ago. First there's the issue of the car. Now granted plenty of people get by on beaters, and hey maybe they even get to work reliably with them. But even if they are paid off, and they don't break too often, that car still needs $3.00/gal gas, and in pretty much every state it needs some rather pricey insurance just to keep the driver from being arrested. (made pricier due to the age of the driver) Cost of living in general is going through the roof, Rent here in Cleveland averages $500 for a 1 bedroom place in a mediocre neighborhood and that doesn’t include utilities. I can count on one hand the amount of friends I know who don't work two jobs just to get by. And I can name maybe two who actually work a "normal" schedule to get by. Kids don't get 40hr. Monday-Friday 9-5, even coming out of school anymore. Most of my friends are pushing 30 and they don't see hours like that.

You couple that with the societal pressure to live on your own and "do well" which drives even people getting by to waste more of their time on a second job for any spending money (which they don't have a lot of time to spend), and you end up with a very sporadic amount of free time for younger people to enjoy. And a good portion of that has to be taken up with the basics. House keeping, Sleep, or just sitting dazed for an hour after being on your feet in a kitchen or similar for +10 hours straight.

What's left for leisure really needs to be cost effective. Sure they could get a pilots license and maybe rent a plane on a day off (if they get lucky enough to know their schedule every week and the weather is nice.) But that initial investment in the license is a pretty tall wall, Then you think about that upwards of $100/hr just to rent a 152 or 172 and you realize for $35 you can get a videogame that will last you 30+ hours if it's good, or having some friends over for Beer/food which will fill your evening and maybe cost $20 (less if everyone kicks in) compared to $100 for one hour of doing something in a plane. It just doesn’t make much economic sense for a casual interest to a young person.

On the Pro side, you have 2nd and 3rd gen. pilot’s kids at the big schools all clean cut and silver spooned. That doesn’t really invite diversity, or much individuality (something highly valued these days.) Just a big pack of Maverick and Iceman wanabees making life hard for anyone who doesn’t match the “Clean cut airline captain” cookie cutter. Even if they don’t want to be airline captains. The majority of 1st gens get frustrated and alienated by the people around them and jump majors within a year or two.

But that’s just my perspective as a young person living in a working middle class area.
I’m sure it’s different elsewhere.