“Being Able To Fix Things Yourself”: 30 Things Young People Find Odd That Used To Be Normal

Hell, I'll take a well constructed argument nowadays.

Before cell phones, if someone didn't answer the phone we'd just say, "Oh, they're not home," and that was normal. Nowadays, I wish it was just as normal to say, "Oh, they're not answering their phone," and just leave it at that.

US: standardized test scores are tied to funding, so no time for skill development (either manual or critical thinking). Kids learn that life is only about obedience to ham-fisted metrics analysis.

Obviously not old enough to remember 'ghetto blasters' (yup, REALLY called that) These were extremely large radio cassettes with big speakers played at full volume everywhere from the 70s onwards until personal stereos became a thing. Before that it was 'portable wireless radios' These go back to the early 60s. Again, people have ALWAYS been a******s..

We NEED to bring back home economics and wood shop as required classes in high school or middle school for ALL students. This would help so many young adults get their first steps in basic life skills.

I see these as choices. You can either stare at your phone or a tv or you can learn to be self sufficient (and, inadvertently, save yourself money). Shìt, you can actually learn to do practically everything just from YouTube videos.....so you can learn something AND watch some cute critter videos simultaneously!

To be fair, this can be taught at home as well. Also, a lot of today's products are cheaply made and, unfortunately, meant to last only a short while. But I totally agree that we've become a throw-out society and that many things can, indeed, be repaired. It's wasteful.

Sewing......nope! BUT, I can make small repairs and do small automotive repairs. I am okay with not being able to hem a pair of pants and will gladly pay for it.

Home Ec, wood shop, cooking, metalworking, auto shop - should all be combined into a DIY class for all students. Teach them basic mends/repairs and household skills.

They should teach how to balance a checkbook, how to budget, check oil in a car, change a tire. Basic life skills.

I'm 33 and know how to do this but my mom told me to be able to fix basic things myself and never expect others to be around to do it for me.

My sis and I grew up learning or teaching ourselves how to do so. Granted, our dad treated us like sons and both our parents worked long hrs or multiple jobs. I’m sometimes amazed that my now adult son doesn’t know how to do some simple things. Of course, I teach him when he asks. Except we didn’t have an internet with tutorials. You basically learned by doing or friends that knew how. I don’t understand how, in this technological age, that there’s less know how than more.

but what about the poor plumbers and seamstresses? they'll staaarve...

I took metal shop and home ec in middle school, 40+ years ago, but I learned how to fix bikes, cars, motorcycles, plumbing, electrical, etc., because I could never afford professional labor rates. Eventually, fixing stuff became my living for the last 20 years

Parents need to step up and help their kids with some of this.

Teach your own children these skills. Don’t expect someone else to. It is not their job to teach YOUR child how to feed itself and take care of its environment! YOU are the parent. Step up!

I remember a careers class where you could choose different trades in junior high. You chose 4-5 boxes that had videos, instruction books and materials and learned some basics of a job. One that I recall for some odd reason was dry cleaner. And they had the chemicals to dry clean a small piece of cloth (with safety gear and supervision). No idea why the dry cleaning sticks out in my memory all these years later. But were able to experience some basics of different skills.

Ok, I see a lot of people being out of touch with technology. Y'all remember YouTube exists, right? Heck, a year or two ago, a channel called 'Dad, How Do I?' blew up. He had taught his daughter some basic life skills and she said her friends wanted to know, too, so he started making videos. Also, why should it be all on the schools to learn things like darning, and laundry, and cooking. Isn't learning basic life skills and the importance of contributing to the household the real purpose of chores? The books, videos, AND classes all exist; if someone doesn't know how, it's because they don't want to learn, and that's their prerogative.

My grandma would darn socks to fix a hole.

They don’t teach that s*it in college !

Can do all of that and more. It gives me a real sense of security, not having to depend on trades-persons. Saves time and money. Also frees them up for those who really need help.

What the hell is that guy in the picture doing?

With the sheer number and popularity of things like diy/maker/how-to/fixit YouTube channels, is it really true this is found odd?

Kids wouldn't understand..

Same with concerts. I don't understand how people can't just watch a concert and enjoy it. Does anyone ever go back and watch their phone footage anyway?

Wall Street investors have been buying up housing all over the country just to make money on excessive rents and the tight housing market, which they contributed to making.

Being stood up or ditched on a date are as old as dating itself, but the RSVP was a contract that could only be violated at the peril of never receiving any future invitations

It's still very normal where I am.

Too damned many companies jumping on the product as a service bandwagon and it needs to stop. For instance, you pay (typically dearly) for a option on your new car, but you then need to pay a fee/subscription to use it? Not in this world, that's absurd.

I just respect people who don't have it. I wish I could quit it

And stop the piles of clothes going to landfill. Throwaway culture needs to cease.

I find the introvert memes tendency horrifying and relatable at the same time. Being an introvert myself I understand the struggle, but it seems to me it's getting worse and worse, triggering anxiety if you just let it be your lifestyle.

Agree knowing how to cook is a learnable skill you don’t need to be a chef.

Some people just don't want to be bothered when they're trying to go about their day.

A house used to be a home not an investment for profit. It annoys me when real estate agents talk about selling a home, it is the house not the home being sold.

All that has happened is the companies have shifted the risk from them to you. If you can get such good returns, they can too. Of course in most plans you do not contribute. Just more evidence of poor money management on their part, and how criminal underfunding is.

If anything this was worse years ago. Social media is doing us all a service by letting people know this is not acceptable. Imagine a world where no one told these a******s they were out of order. I grew up in it..

I only use loudspeaker at home when nobody is around

Do other people not do this?

Again, it's not an abnormal thing to go and not record. Going to the gym without recording is normalised.

Again depends on country and background. Low income areas in my country have good social networks and high income areas have neighbours who barely interact and mostly hate each other.

Outside of large cities where does one find a tailor?

This is only true of individualist (ie western) culture. In Africa our community is the most important thing.

Yet again - NO! This generation are far more accepting of people's struggles with mental health, sexuality, bullying and so on..