Life skills and generational differences

66Mustang

My Dad is a mobile caretaker and he sometimes gets called to an office (burning lots of diesel and NHS money and other stuff) to do a job only to find out it’s something really simple. The job will say an office door is broken or something and it will just be 2 loose screws which need tightening

He often thinks to himself, perhaps old-fashionedly, “there’s half a dozen young blokes here and none of them know how to use a screwdriver??” maybe he has a point though just in modern times this would be extended to everyone who is able-bodied, not just guys

Then again my Dad is no good with technology - I guess those same people that work in IT would say the same thing to my Dad? “All he had to do was type in 1 line of code, why did this old fart have to ask me to do that??" 😆

My Granny thought it was stupid when my brother didn’t know how to lay out the address and stamp on an envelope. However she similarly once thought I was a genius for fixing her printer which required no more than plugging the USB cable into her computer. Again, maybe just generational differences??

What do people think?

Do lots of young people lack basic life skills, or do lots of old people lack modern skills as well and it is just generational differences?

Rosie_Scope

I think it's a bit of both. And maybe even personality differences thrown in. With fixing stuff, I do find most people my age and younger are more likely to throw something out than fix it, but it's not everyone. I think a lot of young people are so busy working and trying to survive, and it's so easy to buy a new thing these days with places like Amazon that it hardly seems worth the effort to fix something or learn how to do something yourself. It's easier to consider it someone else's problem too if you're living in a house share or working for a big company.

My grandad was an engineer and he always got his children and grandchildren involved with being interested in how things work. Both my grandparents learnt how to use a tablet, smartphone, and could use the internet easily to stay in touch with people way into their 80s and 90s, they were happy to work out how to do something if they didn't know how to use it. So I do think some of it is personality too rather than just being age.

I'm not too sure what goes into it, but it's a really interesting thing to think about!

66Mustang

I guess the usefulness of these skills is a good point

Why would most young people even need to bother to learn stuff like how to wire a plug when everything is sold with a plug already on it, how often will they need the skill??

Your Grandad sounds quite cool to me 😊 My Grandad was a mechanic and he was quite similar to how you describe yours!! My Mum ended up being quite knowledgeable about cars and when she was at university and stuff other students would come to her for help with their cars. She's not a mechanic or anything herself but knows more than most people about how a car works and diagnosing problems

Rosie_Scope

Excellent that your grandad was also good at that kind of stuff! 😊

Yeah, I wonder how much is just that older skills that aren't proving as necessary are being replaced in young people's minds by what's relevant to their day to day lives. Stuff like learning to code, or how to write an AI prompt for a certain result, or how to design content to satisfy particular algorithms. Just trying to pluck some youthful skills out of the air, not sure how valid they are!

SpaceAce

My dad is good at fixing things, and pretty good with computers, so I think it might mostly depend on the person.

My grandparents saved everything, and repaired everything they could, but they were kids in the Great Depression. That was normal then, and important because of the economic crisis. They could use computers a bit, but not very well.

JudithL

I think there’s a generational difference. Partly it’s because equipment isn’t made to be repaired any more and partly it’s that people don’t learn the skills anymore. Also people are so busy. It applies to things like sewing on buttons too. It’s a bit of a shame. There are pop up shops around that are teaching people to do these things now.

Bar

I agree with what you are saying on many levels, I have to get my 12 year old to sort out anything to do with mobile phones or my lap top etc and also my 35 year old for sooo many other things……. because my brain has difficulty focussing now and I literally can't compute what someone is telling me……… however, because I grew up a tomboy under my father's wings, I have taught both my daughters all forms of DIY (my 12 year old will assemble, on her own, a flat pack piece of furniture in half an hour and smirk at me lol) Technology is racing ahead so quickly, changing so darn fast it is hard to keep up; language is changing to things that don't make sense (being dumbed down basically). With technology there is an underlying fear also of being slowly pushed, shoved, manipulated and controlled and many older people are living in fear. Especially with age and disability finding yourself 'HAVING' to rely on technology that is being forced upon you and spinning you round so fast is horrific.

Scrumptious67

I think a lot of things come into it. I'm stubborn and fiercely independent and have trouble admitting when I need help, both a blessing and a curse. I'll either give it a go myself or just won't bother at all depending on whether it's worth the time, effort and cost saving. Once I've taught myself to do something, I'm over it as I've proved to myself I can do it.

In the case of your dad, in the workplace, it can often be that workers are told not to touch it themselves for insurance purposes. If they injure themselves or someone else doing something that isn't their job, it can quickly become a nightmare for the company. I used to work in housing and often did small jobs like the one you described myself until it was explained to me why I shouldn't.