Maybe I can offer some items of interest here.
Back in "the day" we were unacknowledged technology enthusiasts. It just wasn’t called "technology" back then. We were the original "early adopters" anxious to gobble up the newest and greatest "technology" of the day. And, we were on top of our game. We knew that a tape running at 7 1/2 inches per second sounded better than 3 3/4. That an elliptical stylus tracked better than a conical one. And, a 15" woofer (all things being equal) made more bass than a 12" woofer. The "cool factor" was thru the roof with our open reels spinning, meters pulsating, and stylus gently dropping to an album. We were smart then, too. We wrapped our intellectual selves around this environment, and due to the lack of complexity of the gear, we had a little headroom (pun intended) leftover to focus on other things -- like drilling down deep into the music. It was a simpler time, and we were the enablers of a new industry that took off like a rocket ship.
It was a simpler time for musicians, too. Young people got together in their garages and played music for hours at a time, They were original, inventive, poetic, and mastered their craft at a very early age. Literally, hundreds of not just good, but GREAT bands came from this era. And, we were the lucky one’s who reaped the musical rewards of their talent.
Today, there’s a lot more going on with young(er) people. So much, in fact, that there appears to be an invisible internal clock that goes off where they impulsively hit a button on the escape pod to abruptly exit the task they are currently involved in. In the book Better Off: Flipping the Switch on Technology. the author spent 18 months off the grid living with the Amish as a research project for his class at MIT. Among his life lessons was an elevated appreciation of American history after spending months living life very similar to what the founding fathers would have experienced at the time. But, most notable was the agony he experienced when picking beans for hours when he arrived. He couldn’t understand how his fellow bean pickers could laugh, carry on conversations and generally have a good time when picking beans. As time went on, he became more receptive to the tedious labor and found himself laughing and enjoying life with them. Pushing someone to stay with a task well past their comfort level by setting up a disciplined training regimen is lacking in life lessons of today. We don’t have spend hours in a bean field, but a gradient with a simple task might be a good start.
We can’t hook up a digital bitstream to our brains and connect the joy of our experiences to young people. The glorious, impactful, and emotional musical experiences we enjoyed at their age are ours. Not theirs. The "cool factor" of our gear isn’t going to resonant with those commitment to sonic realism is a no-to-low priority.
But, what we can do is provide high quality music in whatever form factor works for them and let them decide their own level of engagement.
You guys do a great job of communicating this to others. Keep it up.
