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posted by Fnord666 on Friday October 06 2017, @05:37PM   Printer-friendly
from the would-you-like-fries-with-that? dept.

the Good Housekeeping Institute's recent publication of a dishwashing guide for all those young people (2 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds in the UK) who have never learned the ancient art of washing up. In a nutshell, use hot water and rubber gloves, pre-scrape and soak dirty pans, change your water halfway through, and wash in the following order: glasses, mugs, cups, saucers, side plates, dinner plates, cutlery, serving dishes, pans, roasting tins.

While not knowing how to wash dishes is kind of a big deal, it's the whole idea of not being to handle oneself as a versatile, independent adult that is most concerning. Young people lack a wide range of practical skills these days, as revealed in a recent study by YouGov. More than half of young people (18-24) do not know how to set up utility bills upon moving to a new place; 54 percent cannot replace a fuse in a plug; 34 percent can't reset the fuse box after a switch has tripped; 37 percent do not know how to defrost a freezer; and 11 percent is clueless when it comes to changing lightbulbs. (You can see the entire sad list here.)

So what? There's an app for that.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 06 2017, @07:39PM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 06 2017, @07:39PM (#578272)

    Lol, one day you'll get older and have more understanding for people whose lives are different from your own. That guy's wife took care of the bills and they got married pretty young as I recall. Separation of duties/chores is pretty common in marriages, so why would he bother learning about the bills when he had other duties to finish?

    He was a very capable person in many other ways, and he didn't flail around much in figuring it out. Like 40 year old virgins, there is nothing wrong it is just a state of being.

    Many people are not lucky enough to have good parents or role models. One friend of a nephew is an 8 year old kid who lives in a small trailer with his grandparents who swear, have sex with him in just the other room, drink / smoke, etc. When such a kid gets older and gets some attitude for being ignorant it only makes them mad and feel frustrated. Being able to learn, having the courage to tackle the unknown is not a skill we are just born with. Good role models go very far sometimes and we take our own parents for granted.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 06 2017, @08:46PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 06 2017, @08:46PM (#578324)

    Fair enough. I understand separation of duties and practice it, but I personally wouldn't be comfortable being reliant on someone else for basic maintenance of something I use every day. I totally get that not everyone's like me in that regard.

    I feel bad for kids like your nephew's friend. That's a good point re: the drive not being inherent to humans. I don't know if I'd have the same drive if I had that kind of a start. I was just a bit stunned with the numbers on the YouGov page.

  • (Score: 2) by Anal Pumpernickel on Friday October 06 2017, @10:52PM (2 children)

    by Anal Pumpernickel (776) on Friday October 06 2017, @10:52PM (#578376)

    with his grandparents who swear

    I really don't see the issue with this. There's no such thing as a word that is inherently bad. Discuss ideas, not word choice.

    have sex with him in just the other room

    Oh no, he might learn about the existence of sex! Well, admittedly, hearing and/or seeing your grandparents have sex can cause deep mental scarring...

    I'm sure there are actual problems in that household, but I wouldn't count swearing or sex among them.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 07 2017, @04:46AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 07 2017, @04:46AM (#578482)

      Both are not great to expose young kids to. They start swearing in school or public which gets them in trouble, makes other parents not want that kid around, and thus he gets fewer and fewer friends. Hearing sex talk / references has the same problem. Basically he hears a lot about life that he should not have to even think about, and it is quite obvious from the way he interacts with others. Lots of latent anger, gets ignored by other kids cause his outbursts are over the top, etc.

      Ideally in a perfect society any problems with a kid swearing / sex talking could be handled in a better manner, but in reality he becomes more of an outcast.

      • (Score: 2) by Anal Pumpernickel on Monday October 09 2017, @01:41AM

        by Anal Pumpernickel (776) on Monday October 09 2017, @01:41AM (#579051)

        This seems like more of a problem with society than with swearing or sex. You have to make sacrifices if you want to fix a problem the mindless masses have. Granted, the kid's grandparents probably don't care about any of that. Still, though, he would be exposed to these things anyway by kids his age.