Basic Life Skills No-One Has Anymore

[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.

 

[Luke5515]

Well I don't cook well but I can do basic things. Minch, Taco meat, etc.
Also my mom sews so I could probably mend a hole. maybe.
But I guess now we just go out and get new things when the old ones are broken or damaged.

 

[Kermi]

Most of this stuff I didn't need to be shown and it bugs me that there are people who just don't care enough to figure this shit out. Who the hell can't figure out how to change a tyre or sharpen a knife? I've known guys who are incapable of lacing their own shoes. My colleagues at work are impressed at the speed I can add and subtract numbers in my head, and the accuracy of my division - I'm not talking about hard numbers either. They're just so reliant on calculators that my arithmetic skills are like magic to them.

There's skills I've been shown of course: I learned how to start a fire, tie knots, locate a good campsite and build a shelter on it from cadets (like the scouts, but army oriented, kind of like the ROTC in America). I learned basic repairs and how to change oil in a car from my father. I learned how to sew and cook around the time I started high school as I had compulsory sewing and cooking classes in 7th grade. I tried to get my mother to teach me how to knit once when I was 10 but I didn't have the patience to learn and she didn't really have the patience to teach.
My grandfather taught me some basic carpentry (that was his trade before he retired - he made most of my childhood toys). My uncle helped me apply these skills to make billy-carts (soapbox racers for you Americans).

Then there's skills not really needed in day to day life, which are a point of pride for me anyway. I took metalwork in school and could probably still to this day build a go-kart if I had the materials and access to a hacksaw, lathe and MIG wleder. Hell, even an ARC welder would do.

People who put off learning things because they can find a replacement or look up how-tos online make me wish for some kind of worldwide cataclysm where there is no internet.
It's bad enough that smartphones have effectively destroyed trivia contests.

 

[nolongerhere]

If my socks get all mangled, I buy new socks when I go to the supermarket. If the knives get to blunt to cut things, we get new knives. This is easier to do than repairing them, therefore we do that.

 

[SomeBritishDude]

I don't know most of these basic skills, or at least I wasn't taught many of them by my parents, appart from very basic cooking. But the internet has enough basic tutorials that I don't think they needed to. When I want to cook something new I grab my laptop, find something that looks tasty on youtube and get right to it.

I will say though that my sister, who's 4 years younger than me, has a much better grasp of these basic skills. I think it's mostly about how willing you are to learn. When I'm at home I shut myself away and hang about on the interenet or play video games or read a comic or book or get on with work I need doing. When she's not watch Grey Anatomy (*blows brains out*) she's helping my parents cook or making something completely new herself.

 

[Halceon]

Actually it's more a lack of a single skill - the skill to figure shit out. Seriously, nobody taught me how to mend socks, but i can do it. It won't be the best thing, but it'll hold. It's basic application of imagination to life's problems.

 

[Om Nom Nom]

Huh. So it is odd that I'd rather sharpen a dull knife than throw it away. And patch those trousers instead of just buying a new pair (still good for non-formal/at-home wear I think). I can fix furniture as well; doors, various legged things, fabrics...

I can cook too (simple things - egg, pasta - are easy enough, the rest is doable with some planning).

Some of the gaps in the knowledge of people my own age are just shocking.

I wasn't taught by my parents though; trial and error (and the internet/common sense) FTW. So I guess it's a problem of parents being too busy (or lazy) to pass what they know on to their children.

 

[oranger]

Jebus people, wtf are most of you gonna do when the zombie apocalypse hits? How will you take care of yourselves when the stores aren't being refilled? You realize there's at best a two day supply in any given store for its region? Less in some cases...
Zombie apocalypse aside, what happens when you start seeing cutoffs in local services, like department stores, due to major economic shifts? What are you going to do?