Basic Life Skills No-One Has Anymore

[lee1287]

because we DONT NEED too know how now.

 

[missedstations]

My (female) cousin knows neither how to use a washing machine, an iron, a dishwasher, or a cooker. Her mother does everything for her. I was... Horrified! She's 19 now, she has no intention of moving out of home nor of learning those things. Basically, my aunt and my grandparents spoil her horribly. She never needed to learn if there is always someone to do it for her. :/

 

[InsanityBaronOfAtrocity]

Pointless. Repairing things is such a pointless thing to do. Especially with socks. I mean christ, SOCKS?! Who repairs their socks?! As for cooking, totally pointless. Everything I eat doesn't require cooking. I also haven't used a knife and fork to eat at home since I was 16. Why make washing up for yourself when you've got hands?!

 

[SinisterGehe]

They aren't going to disappear anywhere, people will just have to learn them later on.
How many parents now days go, "Come here timmy, Dad is going to show you how to sharpen your kitchen knife."
Or how many kids are going to "Whippee!!! Dad going to teach me to sharpen knifes!" Example...!!!

I know how to mend my cloths, I make myself alot of cloths. I know how to cook, I just don't cook wide variety of things.

I don't consider people losing skills, I just see people who are stupid, or parents and teens who don't care to teach/learn. But if you look around your community, there still are people who are masters in different things and amateurs on others. I myself don't know how to DIY furniture or basic household renovation, well my reason is my Right hand that I am slowly losing control of.

But also as times change and culture and community changes, other skills aren't valuable as others. Ex, I cut my hair at someone who is good at it, it supports then community and do better job in it. I repair most of my better cloths at a professional, same reason. I rarely do this, because I buy good quality stuff that last long.

I don't see basic skills going to vanish, I just see people who don't care for them.

 

[Vaccine]

Cooking skills I rarely see in anyone anymore, it's amazing how such a basic fundamental skill of survival isn't as widespread as it should be.
I love to cook and I am mostly self taught, I'm no expert by any means but I know enough to prepare a meal for multiple people with ease.

 

[Counterwise]

Well, I can do most things that need doing around the house, drill holes put stuff together, connect electrical stuff, cook etc. And if there's something I don't know, there's the great collective information centre, otherwise known as the internet, world wide web, a series of tubes. Only thing I can't do is IT-business, but my brother can do those things.

 

[Ophiuchus]

I'm pretty useless when it comes to using a washing machine. Like, a proper household one. When I was at home, my mum did all that sort of stuff - I always felt like I should do my own but never got the chance because she genuinely enjoys doing laundry. Here, we just have a launderette with monkey-proof 'put money in and press one button' machines. It's not a difficult thing to learn, in fact I'm pretty sure I'd only need to be shown once or twice depending on different settings, but I've just never bothered. I also have no idea how to use a dishwasher because I've never had one - my parents are 'of a certain age' and they don't see the point of paying loads of money for a machine to do what takes a few minutes and mere pennies to do by hand, and I'm inclined to agree.

I can cook, but choose not to. We only have useless electric cookers here so I just throw stuff in the oven and be done with it... I'll cook a lot more when I've got a nice gas cooker to use. I'm shocked that anyone wouldn't know how to sharpen a knife, although admittedly I don't have a knife sharpener here, call it a by-product of not bothering to cook. I'm even more shocked that people would rather buy new knives than sharpen them, those things aren't cheap.

As for clothing: I know how to repair stuff if necessary but, honestly, it's unlikely I'll bother unless it's something that cost a fair bit of money. In the case of socks, the needle and thread to repair them would probably cost more than buying a new pair.

Minor household repairs are no problem, largely because I used to enjoy taking things apart and seeing if I could put them back together again. That and I always seem to get a new tool kit for Christmas every year because nobody knows what to buy me any more. Changing plugs and fuses, no trouble. Putting up shelves, cool. Bicycle repairs: probably still alright, although I haven't owned one in years. Assembling flat-pack furniture: I actually enjoy it.

When it comes to cars... yeah, that's where I have almost zero knowledge. I don't drive, so I've never considered it necessary knowledge. Even when I was taking lessons I figured it was something I could learn later on. If I ever get back to learning (which will entirely depend on where I end up living in the next few years) I have plenty of people who can help teach me that sort of thing.

 

[aseelt]

How about handwriting?

There was an article on Gizmodo (I think) that stated some young Chinese people forgot how to write certain characters.

 

[GothmogII]

Doesn't that mention of 'Hachet' kind of deflate your point a bit though? That is, if it's supposedly about about at boy who didn't have those skills before hand and yet adapted and survived. Wouldn't that be more an illustration of the survivability of humans without any prior training?

The book is actually demonstrating the opposite of what you think it is. But hey, it's fiction, I'm sure anyone who got into that situation in real life without survival training would be dead within hours, right?

Fair point. Looking back on my post I realise I left out a rather critical point that I intended to go after my mentioning of Hatchet.

What I meant to say was that a lot of people in today's society seem to be pre-programmed to replace rather than repair and when anyone challenges them to do such a simple thing as sew on a button or change a wheel, their immediate response seems to be "I wouldn't know where to start!" even though, if they at least stopped and thought about it, they might surprise themselves. OK so Hatchet was fiction but it still has a valid point to make in that the simplest skills and tools can come in very handy and we should all take the trouble to at least try and learn them.

Wardy

True enough, although, education has to start somewhere, and to it's failure, school often doesn't provide in this regard very well. Home Economics for example should be mandatory, as in many schools not only does it teach cooking and sewing, but also how to run a household and budget (at least, the one in my school did), however, because of the limited amount of spaces, it was not feasible to have it as a class for everyone, and as for myself, I was advised not to take the course because: 'Chefs don't get paid well', as if that were the limits of the class. :/

And, being an impressionable sort I acquiesced and did metalwork instead, something which I disliked and had little aptitude for. And while I did manage to pick up those skills after a fashion when I was older, sewing and cooking and the like, it would have been of immense benefit personally to have had the opportunity earlier.

 

[Outright Villainy]

I could cook (enough to survive anyway), and I could pick up most of those skills quickly if I had to. Most aren't learnt simply because there's no necessity to do so.

 

[Locko96]

Can't mend clothing. However, can cook (goooOOO ASIAN FOOD!) and I sharpen a knife. 2 for 3! HELL YEAH!

 

[GothmogII]

How about handwriting?

There was an article on Gizmodo (I think) that stated some young Chinese people forgot how to write certain characters.

I suppose that's because largely, beyond forms and signatures, handwriting has become something seen as un-necessary.

 

[runnernda]

The skill I'm lacking is the ability to not feel guilty. I feel guilty really easily. Although this is also kind of good, as it means I rarely let people do things for me. I don't know why this is though, maybe it's because I was pretty much raised by a babysitter that was incredibly kind but also very poor.

I was raised Catholic, and while I'm incredibly lapsed, one thing I've never been able to get rid of is the guilt. I'm incredibly easy to manipulate if you guilt-trip me.

Also, one thing that people don't do anymore? Learn basic grammer. Your/you're, their/they're/there, who's/whose, it's/its...apparently that really confuses people, and it drives me crazy.

I can fix most things myself except anything having to do with cars. My father has a friend who's a mechanic, and said mechanic would never let any of us except my dad near the car when he was fixing it.

 

[SimuLord]

I have had six---SIX!---ex-girlfriends to whom I have had to teach the skill of "how to write a check."

Isn't that her way of hinting she expects YOU to be paying?

Nope, just an unfortunate byproduct of my tendency to attract girls with severe dependency and daddy issues.

 

[Kwaren]

People don't know how to grow their own gardens. I don't have one but I know how dang it.

 

[Neuromaster]

Socks are cheap. It's not worth my time to repair them.

As for say, sharpening a knife it's not something I've had to do. Again with the parents not passing on those skills. But I have faith that 15min on the Internet can remedy 90% of the so-called "life skills" we're supposedly lacking.

 

[Varrdy]

True enough, although, education has to start somewhere, and to it's failure, school often doesn't provide in this regard very well. Home Economics for example should be mandatory, as in many schools not only does it teach cooking and sewing, but also how to run a household and budget (at least, the one in my school did), however, because of the limited amount of spaces, it was not feasible to have it as a class for everyone, and as for myself, I was advised not to take the course because: 'Chefs don't get paid well', as if that were the limits of the class. :/

And, being an impressionable sort I acquiesced and did metalwork instead, something which I disliked and had little aptitude for. And while I did manage to pick up those skills after a fashion when I was older, sewing and cooking and the like, it would have been of immense benefit personally to have had the opportunity earlier.

Thankfully my school made us learn all that. Cooking, textiles, metalwork, woodwork and so on. The classes were not so intensive as things like maths, English and so on but they were useful. We didn't learn how to do a household budget though.

I recall my first "Domestic Science" ("Just call it bloody cooking!" was my response to that!) teacher was real battleaxe though and once threw someone out of the class for suggesting that chips (fries) would be a good thing to go with steak! Everyone else was gobsmacked. Steak and chips is a classic British (and I also American I suspect) combination. Dozy cow...

We had to make breakfast once and so I went the whole hog and did a full-cooked English breakfast. Nearly everyone else did toast and / or cereals...*sigh*

Wardy

 

[ReaperzXIII]

The ability to know:
That gangs are not cool
Shooting someone does not make you the shiznit
Drugs are bad for you

I guess this is natural selection in progress, the retards will indulge themselves into an early grave leaving us to survive and make competent smart upright citizens.

Most of the things I know is self-taught, after someone teaches you the basics of something it is pretty easy to do it yourself and more advance things through common sense.

 

[Assassin Xaero]

Is common sense a skill? If so then that.