Cookaholics Bulletin Board

Interesting Fuzzy, what the hell are all those other things, I am guessing easy to live without. Although my daughter set up a laptop for us that we use all the time and she put facebook on it and opened an account. Then I just click on the little icon and I can see what is going on with the family, I guess it is too hard to pick up the telephone and actually dial a number.

Barry

I think that is excessively cynical. Lots of non-vegan under 40-somethings cook, and not just with bacon. Mostly the ones I know who do 'extreme' cooking are actually anti-hipster (kinda rabid about it, to my disappointment, I'm overly accepting I guess). Naturally, the younger they get the more likely they are spending a lot of their time "out", but cooking is alive and well, and possibly even in resurgence.

But, a BB is really antiquated way to communicate. I've been on BB's for about 30 years (yah, I had an acoustic coupler!) or so now and very little has changed. They are little islands of communication which you have to visit and check and be fairly dedicated to. Typically there is no curation. If you want to have a very wide net (instead of vertical communities), it is difficult because you basically have to check every board separately and slog through it. The smart phone thing is a real problem; a lot of people spend a lot of time in transit, waiting, etc. and like to be connected. Things which are sub-optimal for smartphones really do suffer. Additionally, integration with other communication mechanisms is largely non-existent; the problem isn't that it isn't a facebook app, it is that you can't promote your community on facebook by liking a post and possibly drawing people in, and have to maintain separate identities, etc.

BB's are like gated, isolationist communities which eschew communication with the world and demand people always meet on their terms in their place. I'm here, I like this community, but younger people are more used to more open, broad communities that talks to them, instead of them having to visit. BB's have always been a fairly niche phenomena and if anything, are getting more so. But sometimes the niches are nice (like here).

I'm 44 but try very hard to let people on my lawn Also, I maintain some contacts to somewhat younger generation via my wife and try to understand them.

49 years old. Our son turns 10 next week, and our daughter will be 12 at the end of June.

In my circle, I know several young people (20's) who love to cook and have fun in the kitchen. They often don't have the money to go out to dinner, so they'll get together with friends and cook. They'll meet at a market like TJ's, shop for ingredients together and then prep, cook & eat, a very bonding experience. Not statistically significant but the small group I know seem to really enjoy trying new food techniques while also keeping alive some older ones (mead making!).

Just turn 65 earlier this month and I am feeling my age being part of the sandwich generation. Leaving for Boston Saturday to help with grandchild #2 (DD is 36) but worried about not being able to visit my almost 94 year old dad.

Alina!! So glad you're here!!! You are sandwiched, aren't you!?

Thanks, haven't been cooking much, other than test recipes. Hope to do so when i return in the middle of April and will be more active the I hope.

So glad you are here Alina! Sounds like your hands are too full to tie on an apron.

Take care!

Mary

Mostly it's flip, actually. But tone doesn't convey well over text. I have 27-year-old friends who come over and cook, and I've taught cooking classes primarly to twentysomethings. There are definitely under-30 folks interested in cooking. But when I asked one of them why she wasn't interested in the board, the answers two of the points I mentioned.

There is also definitely a large part of that set which is into "extreme cooking". Just watch a couple of episodes of "Epic Mealtime", or consider who the audience for Guy Fieri or Man vs. Food is. Not, as a rule, for 50-year-olds. And folks who are into that wouldn't enjoy this board very much.



On the other hand, a BB, like several other forms of "isolated" community, forces you to make a decision to actually join a community, and not just browse the bits you're interested in. Modern social networks (Twitter, Facebook, etc.) are very "me-centric", and don't tend to require people to consider themselves part of a group. So while a social network allows you to "cast your net much wider", you're much less of a participant in the things you do encounter.

It's like the difference between Internet Relay Chat and Instant Messenger. In IM, you seldom meet anyone you didn't already know; on IRC, you are forced to.

This isn't just for hobbies like this board; in the Open Source world we're encountering issues with much lower rates of actual contributions from younger programmers than we used to get. The ratio of consumption to participation has gone up.



Heck, it's a problem for me. If I could set up a mobile-friendly version of this board in less than an entire 3-day weekend, I'd do it.

55, but my mind is only about 30!

Laurie