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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.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Friday October 06 2017, @08:08PM (2 children)
I was motivated to look up the definition of practical skills. I donno if any of those skills are practical in the modern world using a normal definition of practical
1) non-theoretical skills. WTF is moving somewhere and setting up utilities if its not theoretical? No I have no frigging idea what number to call in Idaho or NYC to get electrical service and moving to Idaho or NYC being unimaginably theoretical means its not a practical skill for anyone but a professional house mover, I guess.
2) Being concerned with ordinary daily affairs of home or work. Replacing a LED lightbulb is rare. I've moved less than once a decade over my life; I suppose its different for military brats. I don't think my kids have ever hand washed dishes, since before they were born we had a dishwasher machine. In fact I think my mom bought one when I was 8 or so. I have vague memories of scrubbing a giant turkey roasting pan back a decade ago; that sucked don't miss it much.
3) Shitposting on SN. well this is self explanatory and is a valid point
4) Hand skill being trained by practice. Come on, who replaces LEDs often enough that they get "trained"? Defrost a freezer which I've only done a couple times with frost free technology being popular? My parents kept a junker freezer none the less indestructible in the basement and kept it full of sale items and frozen wild game. I remember putting fish filets I had caught and cleaned in it as a teen. A couple times I helped my dad defrost it. That tech of non-defrosting freezer has been dead in the marketplace maybe 50 years now. I suspect my kids will NEVER get to improve their defrosting skills via practice.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 06 2017, @10:37PM
utilities [...]? No I have no frigging idea what number to call
Seems like it would be good to know that you can go over to the neighbor's place and ask him if he has a bill with the phone number of the business office on it.
...or that a phone book contains that information.
...or that it the phone number (or even service) is available online via a smartphone.
[n]ever hand washed dishes
Seems like a good skill to have for the next Carrington Event|hurricane|earthquake|whatever that takes out the power.
Knowing how to build a proper fire seems like a useful survival skill as well.
That tech of non-defrosting freezer has been dead in the marketplace maybe 50 years now
You've never seen a dorm-sized refrigerator (which doesn't have the whiz-bang features)?
Still being sold; still in use by plenty of 18 - 22 year olds.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by sjames on Saturday October 07 2017, @04:55AM
Sometimes these skills may seem moot but unusual circumstances come in to play. Dishwasher breaks under warranty and the repairman won't be there for a few days, or the power fails after a storm. I ended up defrosting a "frost free" freezer when it's defrost timer got stuck. It was easy enough to fix the timer, but by then there was more frost than it could handle.
LED bulbs may last a while, but really not so long that it's unnecessary to know how to change one.