Genealogy: Just An “Older Adult” Hobby?
The average age of the people employed at ProGenealogists, Inc. is roughly 36.6. Half of us are under the age of thirty. Yes, I am in the younger category, and I am proud to be a young adult Genealogist. More and more young genealogists are cropping up all the time, and it makes me giddy with genealogical glee to see it happening.
Still, there are certain stigmas that are attached to genealogists that can be difficult to overcome. The other day, I was in search of a link to genealogical resources on a certain county’s public library website, but didn’t immediately find the link. I did notice, however, that there were several links on the left side of the web page, and some of them were divided into age groups. Kids, Teens, Parents, and Older Adults were the specific age categories that were listed. As I scrolled my mouse over them, further sub-links were displayed.
If you haven’t already done so, I want you to take ten seconds and guess which one of these links contained the sub-link for genealogy? Yep. You guessed it - ”Older Adults.” I am flattered to be grouped with “Older Adults,” but I am also happy to report that there are many young people out there who are as much in love with genealogy as I am. Let’s hope the number of young genealogists out there keeps growing!
I think that the age demographics of those involved in genealogy are skewing younger. One reason: more of the Baby Boomer generation is retiring, and doing so earlier than previous generations (the number of people filing for Social Security at age 62 is way up). The retirees are pursuing hobbies they’ve had to put on the back burner including genealogy.
But also there is a new breed of genealogist who is much more connected via social networking including blogs, Twitter, Facebook and other tools. This also has helped – and will continue to help – bring down the age demographics for genealogy