Originally Posted by
Hydro Junkie
The second part, unfortunately, shows why the kits have disappeared. People are getting so dependent on their smart phones and internet that they can't think for themselves and anything they can't find online just can't be done. When you really look at it, the R/C aircraft kits disappearing started about the same time the internet really became part of our lives and smart phones became the must have at all times item a majority of the population depends on for pretty much everything. You want to know something, you go to the internet and that means smart phones for well over 90% of the population. After the "need to know" is over, you forget everything, You want to see an example of this, watch the first episode of season three of the original Star Trek series, "Spock's Brain". It graphically shows where our society is headed if things don't change and people don't start using their brain as more than a short term memory device
I guess I can agree to a fair amount of that. I must have seen that episode at least 6 times. I place a large amount of blame on internet sales. Buying something online is just not the same as walking into a hobby shop and fondling an item before buying it. The hobby shops supply a level of enthusiasm that can't be had online. The other thing to consider is that the industry pushed ARFs on us. Think about it, would you like to make 30% on a $100 kit or 30% on a $300 ARF? Add in that on average we have much less recreation time and fathers/husbands are more hands on and more involved with running the house then we were in the '50s and '60s. There are many reasons for the decline in our hobbies popularity, it is past its heyday but it will survive and we will have to adapt to conform to whatever the future brings.