In my short time within the hobby I have noticed it does not have much appeal to our younger generations.
Most hams I have met are considerably older then me, which makes me wonder what the hobby will be when they are gone?
Purchasing hundreds or even thousands of dollars worth of equipment to maybe talk to someone if the conditions are right and your equipment is functioning properly, does not seem to appeal to the instant no hassle gratification generation among us and I imagine it will continue to be the norm in the future.
This is an interesting issue and it is NOT new. In the past the Scouts did foster some young activity, and some high schools did have ham radio clubs, and both of those avenues have been diminished, especially school ham clubs. But this hobby has always been an older person hobby.
Think about it. Middle aged people have more disposable income to put towards such a hobby. Retired folks have more time to put towards the hobby. Young folks most often have limited income, and more activities to make demands on their time.
In the past (say in the post WW II to mid 1970’s time period, sometime thought of as the golden age of ham radio) a young person with limited financial resources would very often build his first transmitter, although he would likely have a manufactured receiver. For a couple dollars in junk TV parts you could build a nice 75 Watt input, crystal controlled, CW only transmitter for HF. And since you HAD to know Code to be licensed, this was adequate to get you on the air, indeed this is all you were allowed as a Novice or a Technician on HF. Remember in the time period I am talking about FM on VHF was not a very popular thing, it existed but was pretty new and equipment tended to be harder to get or more expensive.
Store bought transmitter / receiver pairs or transceivers were expensive. In 1965 the Swan 350 transceiver, not a particularly good unit or brand, listed for $395, or about $3000 in 2016 dollars. A low end Conar (a cheap brand) Model 300 / 400 transmitter receiver pair sold, assembled, for $103 ($780 in 2016 dollars), and in kit form for $90 ($680 in 2016 dollars). A top of the line KWM-2a, without accessories, was about $1200 in 1965, or about $9100 in 2016 dollars. To put that in perspective, the median price of a home in the US that year was about $21000, and a big block Corvette was under $5000.
So in 1967 when I got my novice license (as a teenager) I went on the air with a home brew transmitter and a third hand manufactured receiver. I was limited (by regulation as well as my gear) to 75 Watts of input power (about 45 Watts output), I was crystal controlled, and I could use CW only, no voice, on HF. Grand total I had maybe $50 in the gear, call it $300 today.
I HAD to advance my license in 2 years if I wanted to stay in ham radio, the Novice license was not renewable at that time, so after 2 years I had to move up in license class (and so immerse myself deeper in the hobby) or not do ham radio.
In general I would say that ham radio itself has never been as enticing to young people as it is today. It has never been faster, easier, or cheaper (in real value) to get on the air in any band and mode you want. It seems it is much better suited to young people entering the hobby. However the competition is much more today. And build a radio to get on the air? Puh-leeze. It is NO harder to do that today than in the past, and arguably less expensive in real cost. But it takes time and effort, and you still end up (at the cheap end of the scale) with a transmitter that works in a mode that most new hams today have no knowledge of or desire to operate in. That is not very much of a draw compared to a $40 Chinese HT.
Cell phones, social media, game consoles, the internet, etc, all take up time and income. They all have more instant “pop” than ham radio and few of them require any real commitment to get involved. And if you think about ham radio ONLY for communications it simply cannot compete with these other things, but ham was never only about communications. It was about the path to getting to communications, and experimentation / learning once you got there.
And so today, as in ANY time in the past, the majority of the active hams are older, typically middle aged or older. There are probably more (by percentage) pre-middle aged people actually licensed, but the most active hams still seem to fit that mold. Possibly because they have the money and the time to pursue the activity.
What will happen to the hobby when the Millennials reach middle age? I am betting the folks who had a latent interest in ham radio but never pursued it will start to rise in the hobby. To some extent you can see that happening now. But I am a little worried that ham radio simply will not be able to compete by the time Generation Z hits that same point of life.
T!
Unfortunately he has shown no interest in my new found hobby and actually thinks his dad is weirdo for talking to strangers on the radio, but I haven't tried the service angle on him yet. 
