Youth Collectors. Reality Sets In

What drew me to stamps as a kid was, I think, the fascination with different times and cultures. Having a stamp in my hands picturing exotic people or places with forein writing on it was exciting to me. I also liked older stamps as well because I was amazed that I could own something that was 100 years old or more. I still get a thrill out of a new discovery or a key acquisition.

Someone above said, "give credit to the kids". They absorb what they see and hear just as easily as any generation if not more so. As an example, my 8 year-old grandaughter has recently accompanied me to two chamber music recitals and she sat patiently through some very complicated music. I am in the fortunate position to make this experience more interesting for her as I am involved in the organization who employs the two chamber groups giving the concerts; I was able to introduce her to the performers who treated her like an adult. No difference in stamps. I have taught her how to properly soak stamps and she has shown a lot of interest. Doing it gradually and with much care and attention and I think I will have a convert. I think we expect kids to pick up this hobby without us encouraging them which won't happen these days with all the other electronic distractions; not realistic; it will require more effort than it did in 1950.

While I agree that kids today are not learning what they need to learn, especially grammar, spelling and the ability to communicate effectively in print, which is essential given the Internet, I'm not pretending that things from the past ought to always be around, no matter how much we love it. When stamps stop being useful, as they largely have today, I have no problem with them going the way of the dinosaur. When physical letters stop being useful, get rid of them. Close down the post offices. Stop issuing stamps. Stay in the modern world, regardless of our personal interests. It's unfortunate that so many collectors are so invested in maintaining the old ways, just because they get a personal benefit from it.

Many of us can only share to another what it was like based on our experiences in life so we try and explain what we did with our stamp collections, baseball cards, music, religion, and schooling to name just a few of the things we did. A few things such as vinyl (LP albums) are becoming popular again. I've spent time with my grandchildren showing them about bread making and when they taste the results they realize that a food without preservatives can taste so much better than what you buy in the store. They may want to learn the art of making a photograph from scratch and I'll be there to show them. Cell phones/touch pads are here to stay and I just accept that as part of life with the texting, facebook, twitter and video games. It is sad to me that writing has gone away like phone manners. Something that I need to accept but not to participate in.
Tom

Seriously, today's kids are every bit as smart as we were as children, just in different ways. Just watch them on a computer and see how they can easily perform internet searches or handle a smart phone. While yes these might not be traditional skills, they are commonplace in our society and they are going to become second hand to kids so that there brain can focus on developing other skills. I have a friend who I mail postcards to him and his 5 year old son. As soon as his kid gets a card from me from wherever, he hops on the internet and goes on youtube or other sites to watch videos and learn about where I am. It's incredible. When I was a kid I had a stack of dusty encyclopedias in my back room that I would maybe crack open. Kids today are smart and they are learning differently, but it's amazing watching them handle a smart phone better than my mom can.

I agree that the kids are every bit as smart as we were but now there is so much more information to keep tracked of. What bits are let go to make room for the new stuff. No more room for the manufacture of buggy whips but how about that larger disk drive. I've heard it said that the pace of informational shifts are speeding up. No more languishing in the bronze age or iron age for a few hundred years. They've quickened up to everything advances every year and a half. What is being taught in the schools is not the facts themselves but the process of how to access the available information to get the facts.

Stamps are like that where at one time someone thought it important to capture a person, place, time, or thing on a little piece of paper. As stampers we are keeping some of that information alive for future reference. Hopefully just not having an ending point as the buggy whip.

But are we? Plenty of people act like they're keeping the flame alive and collecting stamps as history but is that necessary? Do we have a realistic expectation that our kids are going to collect the same things that we do? Did we collect the same things, in general, that people of our parent's generation did? Or our grandparents? Or should we allow time to march on and let each successive generation choose their own hobbies? My kids collect things that didn't even exist back when I was a kid. They have no interest whatsoever in stamps and that's fine. They live in a different world than I grew up in, just as I lived in a different world than my parents grew up in. I'd no more have wanted them pushing their ideas on me than I want to do that to my kids. They have to find their own level. We should no more fight to save the lowly postage stamp than our grandparents should have fought to save the buggy whip. Time marches on, technology changes and the things that we collected in their hey day slowly fade away.

I vote we let them go.

I disagree with your stand on this. I believe that the postal service will go away as we know it and stamps will become part of history. I understand that my desktop computer will go away soon and tablets are going to be what we'll use. My CD's are fast disappearing. I'll continue to live in my world of letter writing, using phone manners, and being civil to everyone whether or not I agree with them. I'm not forcing my feelings on anyone. The kids in the stamp classes want to be there. Should I explain your feelings to them and tell them to find something else to do? I get that idea from you and while you're entitled to your feelings and opinions I frankly resent it.

Tom

Perhaps we could all do with a deep breath, and a visit to:

http://www. (20140417) Site Not Allowed .com/collectibles

Stamp collecting is not going to disappear.

Neither will any of the other collecting hobbies; as I am wont to say, "tangibles are the new black".

Yes, there may be fewer of the serial album stuffers in the next generation of stamp collectors.

After all, as the returning Baby Boomers (of whom we have several on SCF) bring their time & money back to stamp collecting, they may bring a world of interests that they did not have as boy scouts & teenagers.

For example, after many years selling this & that, I have a particular interest in the ways that the post was used in actual day-to-day commerce. Yes, that means that some of my 'Postal History' time & money will go to ephemera, and books, and vintage voltmeters, and old (boy, do I get tired of the word 'vintage'!) drafting tools, and old illustrations from older text books, and ...

But it also means that I will have a stronger overall set of interests, drifting from one set of shows & auctions & magazines (online or not) to another, than I would if 'switching' meant from MNHOG singles to MNHOG plate blocks.

I read a piece in the NYTimes not long ago about the death/dearth of mid-level book publishers. It led me to wonder what would happen if book publishing simply stopped, and there were no more new books to be had, ever.

Do I really need there to be any new books?

Or, will there always be books worth reading that I have not read, on subjects that I have not explored, no matter how long I live?

Do I really need there to be any new stamps?

Or, will there always be stamps/etc that I have not owned, or seen, or learned about, or ...

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

One of the reasons that there aren't as many young collecters is the Smartphone ...
They used to have much moore time to themselves but since the introduction of the smartphone the kids are constantly what's-apping and facebooking with each other.

side note : I began collecting Olympic themed stamps when I was about 8 years old out of boredom in winter. I stopped collecting when I got to secondary school and picked it up again on my 30th birthday, I sold my olympic themed collection and began a new collection history orientated.

With every major technological change there comes social change for better or worse. Many of the changes are not foreseen and rather unintentional. The dangers of driving while using cell phones is one such example. Television reshaped some many aspects of society for better or worse I really don't need to get into it as we can all think of examples. There's pros and cons to most technologies. As a society and individuals we have to decide what to accept and what to be cautious of.

However, we all have genetic hardwiring that cannot be overwritten by technology as of yet. We all engage in story telling through various mediums which in itself instills a sense of history. Stamps are a form of visual communication. We also have a strong sense of pattern recognition and organization ability which allows us to sort stamps and covers or play Candy Crush. Both traits plus others is what compels us to collect stamps or anything else so there is still hope. We just need to let others know we still exist and it's an option.

My point too
Tom