> Much like the ability to drive a car with a manual transmission, read a map, or write a check, Gen Z is learning less and less about how to work with their hands—and it’s time for that to change.
Ugh. Let's talk down the youngest generation of adults to justify a basic tutorial article.
Ironically no one of Gen Z, that I know of, is unable to do any of those examples.
"Please don't pick the most provocative thing in an article or post to complain about in the thread. Find something interesting to respond to instead."
While I can see why you might take that as "talking down the youngest generation of adults", I don't think that is necessarily the author's intention.
All three of those examples are things that many people from Gen Z often don't ever do. They are also all still valuable skills that I believe are still worth knowing.
I agree that it is bad to talk down to people just because they are young. It is also bad to dismiss people because they are significantly older than you are. Both parties miss out when those things happen. Younger people often have more energy and free time, and their excitement about what they are learning can be energizing. Older people often have experience that is tremendously valuable. You can learn a great deal from someone with years of experience in a field in which you have interest.
I think one of the unfortunate things about the internet is it is far too easy to default to being combative, and assume the worst about what others are saying. And yes, I include myself in that as well as others.
I don’t quite get the thrust of most of your post beyond that you have a more generous understanding on the quote.
As I get your post based on the amount spent on why it’s bad to dismiss older persons, I don’t think this is really what the article or GP suggested. similarly, I am not sure that it’s fair to say genz often doesn’t do a lot of the mentioned things. GenZ is full of individuals specializing in niche or old fashioned skills and showing the skills off on specific mediums. Coding and repair twitch streams are quite common, just maybe not as much as subjects that are easier to appreciate without much knowledge in the subject. It’s pretty easy for most people to grasp why a contortionist’s skill or someone skilled with sewing has a rare and unique talent. it’s a lot easier to understand what went into it and the precision and the result is very apparent. I think it’s not so clear with subjects like electronics repair as the tech might work afterwards, but there is too much to understand going into it to fully appreciate the result in its own, and thus audiences rely on the presenter to fill the gaps.
The authors examples are good ones if you’re already inclined towards fixing stuff on your own; but if it were me, even with a simple fix like string lights, i’d have a hard time justifying repairs on my own as i’d need to invest into the repair kit and it would be hard to shake concerns on if I did a safe repair or if I made a mistake that needs to be fixed. I imagine it’s like this for many, as even a few years back when I did laptop repair at a university, students (even technical ones) were antsy about such manual repairs and fixes, and often just preferred to put the liability on someone else. for something really disposable like lights, a cheap phone, etc, i can easily get why people of all ages would just prefer a new one.
Soldering is a fun hobby, and i think that the hobbyist community would easily eat it up if they don’t already (i’m positive you can find some electronics repair vids/channels). it is just lacking practical reasons for people to be interested and/or personalities to bring people to it.
In your third paragraph, you point out a few things: 1) the emotional anxiety of doing the repairs, 2) putting the liability on someone else, 3) disposibility or products. You mention these as reasons of why not to do the repair yourself.
All of those reasons are the main critisms of gen Z and millenials! I'm not a boomer, but:
1) Emotions are preventing repairs?? A bit of stoicism is needed. If you have the habit of repairing things, there is no anxiety. In the old hacker culture you'd think it would be a fun opportunity to disassemble and see how it works and repair it.
2) Takes some reponsibility and risks instead of putting the liability on someone else. The end result is people who are less reliant on others, less finger pointing.
3) The article is trying to promote repairing skills instead of consumer culture. Repairing and better built products instead of filling landfills.
You also mention "i'd need to invest into the repair kit"... it's cheaper to repair than buy new! As you collect tools and experience, there's more and more opportunity to repair, which adds more tools and experiences... a great positive feedback loop.
I think you're conflating anxiety with practical caution and a recognition of lack of skill/interest in developing that skill.
Presuming you're not a surgeon, would you be willing to do an appendectomy on someone? It's a typical procedure that is well documented and at this point very routine for most surgeons, and with just a bit of research and practice, you can be doing all sorts of other surgeries.
Emotions AND logic prevent us from doing relatively routine/simple/safe things all the time.
I _can_ solder and do basic electronic repairs; I've done it plenty and in a pinch with enough time to research, I can probably pull it off. I rarely do however, because:
1. It's an investment in time and equipment that I may not have on hand for items that don't need frequent repairs
2. For the electronics I have, it voids the warranty, and if I screw up, then I'm on the hook for everything, so effectively there is a fine for screwing up
3. For most electronics I have around me, they are prohibitively complex and important enough to my day to day that living without them while I learn and research is quite costly
My point isn't that people are too anxious to do repairs, I have no idea how you took this interpretation. I don't trust my electrical engineering skills because I don't have them developed well, so I think it's prudent to not take on an electrical project like house wiring because I lack the experience to ensure it's done well and there is risk if it's done poorly. This isn't anxiety, it's a practical cost analysis. I don't personally need to do such repairs frequently (either by myself or with the help of a contractor), so an investment in these skills falls more under hobby than a practical skillset, and for the items that have needed repair, self-repair means then liability falls on me entirely, and if I do get in over my head, the cost for repair goes up as it's no longer covered under the repair warranty in many cases. That last point arguably is a fault of overly-broad EULAs and Terms of Use contracts, but it is the situation right now whether I like it or not.
Finally, as someone who did do electronics repair (and later programming), there are definitely issues that I was/am tasked with where someone unqualified tried their hand at it first and made what was a minor issue a major problem due to inexperience. I would have vastly preferred that the person(s) never tried to touch the issue since what they did just exacerbated the issue or introduced new issues instead of making it better.
It's a logical and reasonable cost-benefit calculation, and I can absolutely get even as a technically capable person why many GenZ wouldn't want to get into electronics on the basis of repair; it's the wrong introduction in my opinion and carries too high a cost of failure for most of electronics we use in every day life. That is why I think that a hobbyist approach, small electronics projects, etc, are a better gateway into electronics. The cost is failure is quite low (you just don't get whatever you're trying to build), the same skills for making the electronics carries over to repairs and builds the skillset and confidence for making the repairs, and it helps establish the wisdom to better assess if you can DIY or if a specialist is a better choice. All of the people I know who are big into car repair have that wisdom to know when it's better to take it to a shop that has the right equipment and experience versus what can be done at home in the garage.
I live in Portugal and you'll find more Gen Zers (with a drivers license) afraid of driving an automatic than a stick shift.
If you've never driven one, automatic cars feel super dangerous as you can accelerate indefinitely even when unconscious, and even in a normal situation your left foot clutch muscle memory will make you push the brake (to the floor) without meaning to as well.
My GenZer wants to learn but we literally don't know a single person who owns a manual transmission car. Well we know one but it's a cousin who lives 1500 miles away and we really only see at weddings and funerals.
I am Gen Z (1999), and learnt how to solder by being told to build a radio from scratch by my father. I had to source my own materials, find schematics, figure them out on my own at age 11.
I consider myself extremely lucky my childhood wasn't one where I was given an iPad at age 4 to fry my brain completely.
My GenZ child wrote their first check a few months ago. The State Department doesn't take cash or credit cards for passport applications. The guy at the post office talked them through it and their passport arrived last week.
A decade from now they'll write their second check and have to be talked through it again.
Based on the spelling, you’re probably not from the US. Until recently, there were really no “free” ways to give independent contractors money except cash or check. That’s changing, slowly.
No, Australian and we have been depositing money for things such as rent directly into people's bank accounts via telephone and internet banking for as long as I can remember. Well, no. I have a dim memory of taking my landlord big wads of cash in the early 90s.
Most of the passport application/ renewal process is online, but for a child passport you just go to the post office and tap your card as if you were paying in the supermarket.
I remember my dad's chequbook. It's kind of quaint to think they're still in use, like if you went into a shop and they still had that pneumatic tube system for sending messages.
The point of the article is to propose it as a fun thing to do on the side. But who solders as a hobby? I’m a millenial, and I have broken out my dad’s soldering equipment a handful of times because I wanted to try fixing something myself. (I’d hazard a guess that’s cultural more than generational, but maybe not.)
I don’t know that this article did such a good job making the case for soldering as a hobby in so much as it lays the groundwork for someone who might need to use this tool to fix something his/herself. And that should be the emphasis.
I can drive a manual car, swim, and perform CPR — supposedly the three things an adult should know, but damn it if I spend more time in my workshop hunched over molten metal. I got other things to enjoy, as I’m sure many people younger than myself do too.
no one of Gen Z, that I know of, is unable to do any of those examples.
"That I know of" is the hallmark of Gen Z: Thinking that their experiences are the only experiences.
Taking the manual transmission example, there were a number of items in the news back when manual transmission was more common about Millennial and Gen Z would-be car thieves being unable to drive away because they didn't know how to use a stick.
But since you didn't know them, they must not exist.
Ugh. Let's talk down the youngest generation of adults to justify a basic tutorial article.
Ironically no one of Gen Z, that I know of, is unable to do any of those examples.