Basic Life Skills No-One Has Anymore

[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.

 

[Ledan]

I know some stuff, but not other stuff.
I learned to do my laundry and tying ties in boarding school,
I know how to cook for myself and my siblings (pretty much all I did during the summer)
I can sow holes, and if I started knitting I think that I would be okay att it.
I can't cut wood though without hurting myself eventually.............

 

[shaboinkin]

The skill I'm lacking is the ability to not feel guilty. I feel guilty really easily.

you know every time you search the web, resources are wasted that could have gone to help starving children in africa or power the equipment in hospitals.

you can feel guilty now.

I reallllllly hate that line

I remember I went to this camp thing and this lady was telling us to not waste food because all the food we wasted would have been able to feed starving children in Africa. No the fuck it wouldn't. The food was mass prepared. Mass cooked. And given to the masses available. Any food not eaten by lunch time would have been thrown out. If she said don't waste food because others don't have it like us, that's fine. I got no problem with that. But don't make us throw our food in a goddamn bucket to make us feel guilty that all the food in that bucket could have been shipped out to starving kids in Africa...

/rant

 

[NoseDigger]

When socks are like 5 pairs for $5 and T shirts are $2 and jeans can go for $5, it's understandable that people don't break out the yarn so much.

I must be going to the wrong stores then...


Ok, I know how to do some things. Some useful, some not. I can manage alone.

 

[LadyRhian]

Most of these skills are no longer needed by people in the US, or are made impossible to do by technology. Ever tried to sharpen a serrated knife? Not really possible, either by steel or stone (because of those serrations), and most low-end knives are sold serrated to make it easier to cut things. When the sharpness is gone, the knife becomes useless because it cannot be sharpened by most methods.

New cars cannot be fixed like old cars. New cars have computers in them. If the computer goes out, the car is dead (I know, it happened to me) and must be fixed by a specialized mechanic.

I can cook and clean, but with a lot of clothes, even if you mend it, the item no longer looks as good (especially if the mend is in a noticeable place. I can sew, but I never do. I can roast meat, grill meat, bake meat, wash and clean and cook vegetables, but I have never had space for a garden, so I can't do that. Never hunted, either, so I am clueless about how to clean and butcher game.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

I'm pretty alright I guess. I can cook a decent meal, do the household and I've got some DIY skills. I can't sew, but I know how to knit. I've got decent green fingers too and know how to grow and take care of my own vegetables.

I learned most of it from my grandparents.

 

[TheModWolf]

It's not that hard to change a tire people...come on guys.

 

[zehydra]

Our live is tailored so that all we have to do is make it to College, learn a degree in something non-essential to life, so we can work in that field to make enough money that all the life-skills we used to need, we no longer need.

 

[JohanGasMask]

The ability to start a fire without using matches or a lighter.
Back in the day, that was the most basic thing you could do.

 

[MisterM2402]

If I ever *do* need to employ any of these rarely-used skills (socks dont need mended *every* day), I'll either take an educated guess if it's not too difficult, or look it up online - I guess the latter is the most common, and it's very easy too.

 

[hurfdurp]

I thought you were going to mention something more along the lines of social skills. After attending a wedding yesterday, I can definitely say I don't have a good handle on basic etiquette .

 

[adamtm]

You see, for all those people that dont have the survival skills needed there is always a John Locke like me.

Zombie Apocalypse? I have basic weapons and medical training

Nuclear Apocalypse? I can build you shelter, a radio, maybe even a Geiger-counter, treat radiation poisoning

Robot Apocalypse? I can build an EMP

Lost on an Island? I can make snares, make fire, catch and prepare fish, know about vegetation.

Of course these skills come at a price to myself and the herd-people. They need to pay me in respect and possibly sex, most likely i want immediately be announced leader or king.

Second, i will most likely lead society by tyranny and it will devolve into Thunderdome at some point. I also might go totally insane and just start murdering the population.
But hey, thats a small price to pay for clean drinkable water and a piece of meat in the post-apocalyptic wasteland.

 

[ArchAngelKira]

That child like fantasy you always liked to space out in when you felt sad.