Ever since C++ got switched out by the major universities (in the US) for Java (circa 2001), there have been fewer and fewer people who learn/know C/C++ and who can then also understand pointers and other C related knowledge. It's not completely unused but for the most part it has been relegated to game programming and systems based work where speed is important.

I am sure there are exceptions or other reasons to this, but I feel that once the universities switched over to Java, C/C++ went on a big decline.

I love the freedom I have with C/C++ and although it's true I used a lot more Java than C at university, when speed is of relevance I usually go with C/C++ (usually a weird mix of both). And if it's not, my first choice is Python.

Though it's generally true that most of my friends prefer Java over C/C++. I might be different because I learned programming in high school and started with C.

"systems based work where speed is important"

Speed, timing, or control; and the first is less true that it has been.

We still need to know C to do well with Objective-C for our fancy newfangled iOS apps.