Steve: I rarely see anyone under the age of 30 without a tattoo. Could be any number of reasons for this: location; my age; etc. Wasn’t that long ago that you didn’t see that many people with tattoos. Bikers, Navy vets, the occasional free spirit. But sometime in the last 15 years (?) I started seeing them everywhere. I’m wondering if there has been some reputable academic research on the cultural causes/significance of this trend.
ChatGPT: The explosion of tattoo culture in the past 15–20 years is a striking cultural shift. It went from fringe to mainstream with remarkable speed. What was once associated with bikers, sailors, punks, and rebels has become almost a rite of passage for a lot of younger people, and yes, there’s been a fair amount of serious academic and sociological attention paid to the phenomenon. Here’s a summary (PDF) of what that research tends to say, along with a few respected sources.
I came this close to getting a tattoo while in D.C. last week. Changed my mind at the last minute and knew immediately it was the right decision. It wasn’t the permanence of a tattoo that changed my mind. Rather, the insight that tattoos are not permanent. 
I’ve been helping my friend Taisir feed and care for a blog for his coffee shop. It’s a labor of love and I’m there every morning anyway. With help from Phil we got his domain in place.