Do you think computers encourage risky diving in new/ young divers?

[Jonn]

@Jonn I'm not sure I understand what you mean by you " I routinely exceed my computers decompression limits, and I do not calculate my remaining air". You say you hit DECO, but does that mean the warning or have you gone past the warning?

When I hit DECO it's time to come up a little bit but it's not an emergency in itself; a minute or two is not a huge deal. I certainly don't ignore that warning, I shouldn't ever be surprised by it, but if I have the gas it's a 'soft limit'. There's no significant difference being a minute away from the limit and being a minute beyond of it, it's not like the scuba gods will smite me on the threshold as I'm lining up that perfect photo. At the shallower depth the deco obligation goes away, then comes back again, and I come up a few more feet. If I encountered some emergency that used a lot of time and a lot of gas at depth I might be in trouble, but surfacing promptly should always be an option with the sort of diving I do.

The point of this is to push the dive right to the very limits of the computers allowable 'decompression stress' (a concept I only vaguely understand), but that's the point: the conservatism (or lack thereof) is computed by the computer. If I wanted to be safer (or less safe) it's more efficient to move the gradient factors up and down than make an additional rule "I'll keep 10 minutes away from the deco limit so I never reach it". Sure it's a (literally) black box I don't understand and am trusting my health to, but then who here can compile their own tables from first principles either?

 

[wstorms]

like I mentioned earlier; although a PDC might suggest differently, deco isn't black and white. There is no magic black line that you cross and immediately die because you exceeded it. In reality everybody responds different to deco stress, and what is ok for some might be really conservative or aggressive for somebody else.

As a diver, I migth be navy seal fit or more like Homer Simpson fit. yet somehow I will need to know what is considered acceptable risk or not. So for practical purposes, black lines are drawn in a really big grey area. The line is displayed in a printed number on a table or in the display of a PDC. The way the line is drawn, makes sure that most people can dive with an acceptable safety margin.
The margin has been increased over the years, as diving moved from military use (the navy tables were based on what worked for fit, young, strong guys) to civilian use where anybody can dive.

Now although I would not recommend @Jonn's dive practices, I am not the dive police either. People do dive this way and it happened to me a few times as well. It is up to you to determine what is acceptable risk or not.
If you exceed your NDL, your computer will do it's absolute best to bring you back as safe as possible. In reality, there are quite a few cases where you "get away" with this. However, there will be a point where you have exceeded your safety margins too much, and the PDC can't help you anymore. If this happens to you, I hope you did prepare additional risk mitigation.

Compare it to speeding in your car. You will not instantly die when you exceed the speed limit with a mile, but you are increasing the risk involved. Speed with 10 miles over the limit, the risk becomes higher. If you suddenly need to break, your ABS system might save the day. Speed 50 miles over the limit and chances are you will not be able to recover safely if something unexpected happens even with all the fancy gizmos in modern cars.

 

[NAUI Wowie]

Something I've been curious about. If I exceed NDL my computer will tell me to stop at X depth for Y minutes. After that it will tell me next stop depth and time. I have not tried it but my understanding is that it will show one stop at a time. It will not tell me all stops ie, will not tell me the air needed in total.


Do you experienced divers think that the fact that the computer will "get you out of deco" in any way encourages newer/younger divers to exceed their training and experience?

Something I've been curious about. If I exceed NDL my computer will tell me to stop at X depth for Y minutes. After that it will tell me next stop depth and time. I have not tried it but my understanding is that it will show one stop at a time. It will not tell me all stops ie, will not tell me the air needed in total.


Do you experienced divers think that the fact that the computer will "get you out of deco" in any way encourages newer/younger divers to exceed their training and experience?

Are there actually divers that DO NOT use a dive computer? Aside from the gui cavers etc. I would say the opposite is true. Diving WITHOUT a dive computer would encourage riskier behavior. No vibration warnings, no rising too quickly warnings, no warnings of any kind at all.

 

[TMHeimer]

Computers have warnings, bells & whistles. Tables, watch & depth gauge can AT TIMES be more conservative and a feeling of relying on yourself not to screw up. More to do and think about with a stick shift than an automatic.

I think it depends mostly on the individual, not which thing is used. Depth is important too. You probably don't need either on 30' dives.

 

[Celt]

I use a computer program to plan my dives. But I will have at least 2 if not 3 or more different plans for the same dive depending on the depth and duration. The reason is to try and account for whatever conditions I might meet and how I feel. For me allowing a computer to run a dive as I dive is never going to happen.