When drones first started to become a thing that would eventually eat the rest of the hobby shop I was always perplexed by the people who bought them. Sure, they were the usual, either fat kids or middle aged fat men. They looked like normal RC people…but there is a difference. They are helpless. Dumb. Don't dumb people already have a place to be? Why isn't that dipshit at the sportsbar? They can’t build a kit or fix it or even fly it. The thing comes built, essentially flies itself via multi-axis feedback and CPU stability aid, and repairs are sometimes easy, sometimes impossible. It doesn’t matter though because the useless consumer idiots buying them never repair anything. They bring it back to the shop and those guys fix it.
For years I had always assumed this was the new generation of nerd. The kids who’s mom never let them paint their models because of the toxins. Nerds too protected in their youth to learn any actual nerd stuff like casting Bigfoot prints or soldering Heathkits. I was wrong though, I eventually learned the "real" excuse...
When a 45 year old is pressured by a 15 year old you learn the real reason. They aren't too stupid to fix the thing. They are too grown up and BUSY, you see? They'll claim the reason they never learned how to fix their toys is because they are big successful grownups now and they don't have time to waste on it. They have kids now and other important things to attend to so they don't have time to do it. This really blew my mind. It did explain pretty much everything from their dumb perspective. They aren't too dumb to come up with a really great excuse for being dumb; too busy to learn anything.
Gamma Male: "Why do you fix your own stuff, are you poor or something?"
15 Year old kid: "Why do you have so many toys if you're so fucking busy and grown up?"
To be fair, it wasn't really the drone people who started this, it was the Traxis garbage. Building your RC car was standard for 30 years and then this trash company came along. They prepared they way, took all the "hobby" out of it and made it an Amazon's Choice level distraction. It wasn't so obvious at the time though because you still have to drive an RC car.