Sep 15, 2010

Is Philately A Dying Hobby Among Youth?


Its been 170 years since the world's first adhesive postage stamp, Penny Black was used in a public postal system. Philately has since seen numerous revolution over the years and more recently the addition of Maxiphily is evidence of the ever evolving hobby. Putting that aside, I would like to bring up a very disturbing reality; Philately among Youth.

Over the years, I always wondered if philately is dying among the youth? I have to admit the temptation of PS3, XBox 360, facebook,etc tends to be unbearable. Even my brother thinks Im crazy. He feels that I could spend my money on better gadgets than mere paper. LOL

Looking back for the past few years in Malaysia, it really seems that the young philatelist is moving towards extinction. Wait... can i consider myself young; being only 26? HAHAHA... I guess you cant ignore the fact that you see the same faces at all stamp fairs, post offices during new issues and more importantly during the crazy and tiring hunt for stamps at the dealers. OMG, Malaysian Philately world suddenly seems so small; I mean really SMALL.

However, I realized now that the youths are very tech-savvy. They rarely come to stamp fairs but they are very very active in online forums and ebay. I've met many along the way and trust me; some are very advanced philatelist. They believe the best way to learn is from the web itself. I have to agree as I've learn so much from forums, and stamp blogs from all over the world. My knowledge on stamps will not be only bounded towards my country but rather a wider study scope. I would have never imagine/dream of having interest on Third Reich Philately if not for the world wide web. However, trust me, no matter how much online philately can help, I still love to have frequent meet-ups, having a drink and chatting about philately, exchanging knowledge, and a little bit of showing off on your latest findings. LOL...

Over the years, I'm lucky to have very close friends like Holger, Vera and Xu Wei coming all the way to Malaysia to meet me. The experience was great and the memory is something I will cherish for life. In addition, PSM have weekly meet ups to keep up with the latest updates.

While browsing some philatelic blogs and forums, I realized that a few schools in Malaysia have been very actively involved in promoting Philately. where else to start if not schools itself? Hats off to Chung Ling High School and Sam Tet for your efforts.

So, I guess no matter what happen, philately was here and is here to STAY;whether its via online or the traditional way. You can argue that there are tones of temptation out there but nothing beats philately. Waiting anxiously for covers in your mail box. thats just out of this world.

So for the question; Is Philately A Dying Hobby among Youth? Definitely NOT... PHILATELY HAS EVOLVED WITH TECHNOLOGY!!! I'm really happy that philately is finally getting to where it should always be, "THE KING OF HOBBIES & THE HOBBY OF KINGS"

PS: I would like to hear from friends all over the world with regards to Philatelic Scene in your country.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes, is true the youth community in Malaysia on philately is small and getting disappear if nothing significant to be done and plan ahead. What is your opinion on how to attract youth venture into philately? What need to be done? How? There are still many youth collectors in HK and China, despite PS3 and Xbox very popular in these country. So what's wrong with our situation here? Is a good topic to discuss in my opinion.

September 15, 2010 at 3:41 PM  
lefung said...

Yes, agree with that. I think is because Post Malaysia not promote it in good way and too many issues with high value, can't afford for that. Since now internet is a best way, why not try to have a better online system? So that they can also place order through the website?
Our Post website always not up to date.

September 15, 2010 at 9:00 PM  
ronny said...

Dear Anonymous/ lefung,

Thanks for the feedbacks and yes I have to agree that countries like China and India are packed with youth philatelist who are so passionate about the hobby. But whats wrong with Malaysia? I guess its a big question mark and rather than arguing on that, we should focus on ideas to promote philately locally. IMHO:

1) POS Malaysia should be more effective and pls do not repeat the same problem with the KTM ms, put more emphasis on general collectors rather than dealers and hunters of varieties and errors. I guess the good old days of getting a lucky finds is very scare as most of the "Good Stuff" are screened first and offered to "Special people"... LOL
2) POS should issue affordable issues to all. The next POS Office issue is definitely blowing out of proposition.
3) PSM needs to make its presence felt and trust me, many Malaysians are very actively involved in International forums but dont even know or care less about PSM.
4)PSM should have reps in every state that takes care of the members there. eg.. Ipoh, we have kkkhor, vera,....
5)Better online site as mentioned by lefung
6) Dealers should stock up more frequently and also put emphasis on advance needs like proofs and essays.
7) "SILO" philatelist should try to make a difference

ooops.. thats getting a little too much here.. But please take note that its my humble opinion. I can be right and even very wrong but definitely appreciate some feedbacks from all even my foreign friends..

September 16, 2010 at 11:28 AM  

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