Is it the sign of the times or have they always been this way?

Living in a small community in the mountains of San Bernardino I've come to know allot of the local people that come into my antique shop. I just got back into coin collecting since a 5 year vacation from it due to unfortunate circumstance (read my bio. if you really want to know). anyways I've noticed since I started selling coins in my shop the return of people have increased. In these times of hardship I truly believe people as simple as they may be are turning back to the basics of having the true value of a purchase in they're possesion. I've even noticed young people getting an interest in the hobby. They may not understand much about coin collecting but they seem to enjoy it. My nephew age 9 came to visit and I got him interested in coin collecting last month. By the weeks end he studied the redbook and had a collection of Morgans, the Redbook, a magnifier lens, and of course a new book to place the coins in, it cost me a small fortune. I wondered if this was just going to be a passing phase untill one day at a burger joint I noticed he was looking up all the coins from the change he got back, from the purchase of our burgers! I think he's got coin fever......and that's how we all got our beginings.