I think part of the problem is people don't know they are inclined to tinkering. If you grew up around VCRs and they broke and you wanted to try to save some mo

I think part of the problem is people don't know they are inclined to tinkering. If you grew up around VCRs and they broke and you wanted to try to save some money, you open it and see if you can do anything. This seems to be a common way to first start off. Nowadays you open it and immediately close it because there is no reasonable way to approach an IC or PCB without prior knowledge. Of course there are the more industrious (and more annoying to their parents) who go on opening things that weren't broken and mess around in them. Those people are the ones who will actively go out and by arduinos. But it seems the first group is a dying breed.