[Dean]

Nobody is required to read this thread and other than open discussion or possibly amusement, there is nothing to be gained by doing so.

I wonder if there is any data out there on the numbers of kids participating in organized sports and maybe sales of musical instruments over time. I couldn't find anything on the former easily with one google search and I can't imagine any on discretionary sports/athletics like skateboarding.

With a limited amount of time in a day, I would challenge that video games and the Internet are not only stealing "market share" from TV, but athletics and the arts as well. Perhaps they are only stealing from TV, but I doubt it.

Another interesting stat might be the number of "bands" where the star/lead singer plays an instrument over time. It appears we are seeing more and more singing/dancing heads up front with unknown or even recoded musicians. There is probably a musicians trade organization we could look at membership of, but again, a quick look doesn't show any data.

Organizations probably don't like publishing declining participation or membership numbers.

I going to go back to watching TV which doesn't require too much button pushing/mashing effort.