How has the internet affected diving? Good/bad or both?

[markmud]

How has the internet affected diving? Good/bad or both?

My answer is: Good, bad, and both!

Mostly, the internet has been a boon to recreational scuba diving. I feel I can safely say that and not be accused of "rationalizing and projecting."

There are always losers with every new form of communication, travel, sport, and etc. The buggy whip industry died as the automobile became popular. Ocean liners had to rebrand themselves as "cruise ships" because of jetliners.

Because of the internet, I don't have to watch ABC, CBS, NBC, or CNN. And I don't miss them at all.

All of our dive trips have been arranged, or booked, or planned via the internet. The dive sites we want to dive were researched on the internet. Most of the opinions we seek are communicated via the internet, or are directly sourced from the internet.

I buy most of our gear from our LDS of fifteen years, which is now 2,167 miles away, via the internet.

My wife and I were in the doldrums with our diving. Our diving matured to a point where the old procurement methods were failing.

We communicated with @cardzard and @ROXANNE and found divers who plan trips that are fun. We dive with experienced divers in a social environment. We have dived new places because of this internet site. We have met new friends. We can't wait to go diving again.

Thanks @The Chairman, @cardzard, @ROXANNE, and all of the Scubaboard members who entertain us, teach us things, ask for our opinions, and who pique our curiosity.

The internet is much better than the old-school ways,
markm

 

[chillyinCanada]

I "met" my dive trip booker on the internet, through Scubaboard. Double thumbs up for internet and Scubaboard

 

[The Chairman]

 

[Marie13]

View attachment 517787​

The card catalog was always so much better than the stupid library computers they’ve had for a while now.

 

[CT-Rich]

I was certified in 1980.

Just think about this.... if you wanted to go diving, you needed to have a paper copy of the tide chart for the place you wanted to go diving.

If you were looking for a dive buddy, you had to physically meet them and get phone number, either on a dive charter, at a site, a class or club. People didn’t even have answering machines.

The major magazine of the day, Skin Diver, never gave a bad review of equipment. They loved even the biggest piece of crap their advertisers were getting reviewed.

All information was spread by word of mouth.

Weather reports were heard on our weather radio or watched on TV. And they were not very reliable beyond a day or two.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I was certified in 1980.

Just think about this.... if you wanted to go diving, you needed to have a paper copy of the tide chart for the place you wanted to go diving.

If you were looking for a dive buddy, you had to physically meet them and get phone number, either on a dive charter, at a site, a class or club. People didn’t even have answering machines.

The major magazine of the day, Skin Diver, never gave a bad review of equipment. They loved even the biggest piece of crap their advertisers were getting reviewed.

All information was spread by word of mouth.

Weather reports were heard on our weather radio or watched on TV. And they were not very reliable beyond a day or two.

And despite all this, somehow diving continued to grow and peak in the analog days. Now even with the internet and everything it’s brought, diving seems to have stalled or at least leveled off relative to the growth of what should be the next generation of divers. Why is that?

 

[Searcaigh]

And despite all this, somehow diving continued to grow and peak in the analog days. Now even with the internet and everything it’s brought, diving seems to have stalled or at least leveled off relative to the growth of what should be the next generation of divers. Why is that?

Look around you when you go to a mall, nearly everyone has their face stuck in a smartphone from kids in pushchairs to adults bumping into each other because they're not looking where they are going.

The next stage of growth will probably be UW drones. They can go deeper, don't require NDLs and the kids of today won't need to get wet to see what is below the surface. But in effect the experience is going to be completely different, a plus for those who are physically unable to dive, but for those who are able, will they get off their asses, stop playing video games etc., and get wet.

UW Drone salvage may become a business for those of us who can dive though

 

[arcticat99]

internet itself fantastic.you are finding out about dive sights that you never heard about maybe read little bits in national geographic.now social media that's a whole new beast that needs to be fed carefully

 

[ThatDogDontHunt]

It has vastly reduced the amount of LDS BS that gets taken as gospel.

This idea can also be expanded to the travel agent BS about "where to go". And the gear manufacturer BS about what stuff I need to buy.

Sorry if my tone sounds slightly pissed-off negative. Please turn it around and realize that we now have so much more information that we are able to make our own (hopefully better informed) decisions. AND we can ask our peers for input on our decision process - just in case we got a bad case of the Stupids! I claim this a very common Sb thread topic: Should I buy this? Should I go there? WTF should I do?

User to user information exchange has exploded. Information Quality = caveat emptor.

 

[Schwob]

How has the internet affected diving? Good/bad or both?
IDK, no idea how you guys do it I never managed to get a connection while diving which in part is why I love diving...