Signal wrote:

"RickH" emitted :

IMO, most "electronic related" magazines are not what they used to be
pre 1980. They are all dumbed down for observers and not doers, and
foster a culture of end-users as opposed to true amateurs (lovers of
the hobby). I think it stems from the fact that the American male,
(with the exception of folks on groups like this), are no longer
do-it-yourselfers. By the time I was 7 I already knew how to square a
board, solder a wire, drill a hole, dismantle a 5 tube radio, etc.
Today boys grow up playing and watching video and not building or
dismantleing equipment. They get no feel for how things work, they
just see the output. I remember when every issue of Popular Science
had an electronic project to build, and when hi-fi magazines regularly
had speaker projects, or pre-amp projects, or whatever. Stereophile is
a classic case of this dumbing down effect, a magazine run by marketers
for folks with lots of money who couldnt fix a lamp cord and regularly
cross-thread their toothpaste caps.

Magazines are not *responsible* for a decline in interest in D.I.Y.

If we're talking about youngsters taking an interest in the subject ( as I
did many yrs ago ) I think the main issue is that it's not 'kewl' to have
hobbies any more.

You just hang out with your gangsta friends - that's 'kewl' !

Graham