My new washing machine...and is DIY dead?

Post Reply New Topic

As I type, my new washing machine is finally working. Just as well really, since I'm currently wearing my last clean change of clothes... I had a bit of trouble with the water supply but my dad stopped at my place on his way home from work and sorted the problem out. He's not a plumber by trade but it got me thinking: is DIY dead?

It seems that us young people are far less savvy with practical jobs...my grandparents used to go on about 'throwaway society' and how we don't fix stuff any more; we either get a pro to do it for us or replace whatever's broken with a new one. I'm starting to agree with them.

Is this the last remnants of the 'make do and mend' mentality that sprung up during WW2, or is it something different altogether? Are more recent generations turning out like helpless children? The complexity of cars and gadgets is increasing of course, so the amount of repair the owner can do without a professional's help is less than it used to be. Maybe that's it.

I'm genuinely worried that I won't be able to use practical skills - be it installing electrical appliances, fixing the car, or simply knowing how to use everday tools - like my parents and their parents did. Not that I plan on having kids, but still.

Beyond my own irritation at having to call my old man over just so I could wash my undies, I'm starting to wonder if I'm part of the first generation who can't wire an electrical plug or put up a shelf...

Yes, this is why I hate my generation. I lived in a nontraditional life, somewhat stuck in the past when I was younger. My father encouraged a DIY ethic with me, and I myself got really interested in it. So now, younger folks think I'm some genius for just being able to do simple tasks like....cooking, and changing sparkplugs. It's quite sad. But the solution, you can't control your generation, but you can control yourself. The solution is simply just spend the time to learn to do things your self the best you can, that's what I did. There's a wealth of information online on how to basically fix or make anything you wish, so just use it. You can't control your generation, yours and my generation is headed toward hell, but you can control yourself.

Probably, but my parents didn't teach me anything when it comes to that because they didn't know how to themselves. Through trial and error I've figured out a good bit myself and become relatively self sufficient, though I am a novice on things like engine and computer repair. Now, when I go home to my parent's place I usually have a long list of DIY projects awaiting me.

Those skills seemed rare even when I was in high school 20 years ago. I don't interact with people enough nowadays to have a sense if it's worse. It probably is, though. There is (in the USA) some class prejudice that only the 'lower classes' get their hands dirty.

(Reminds me of a joke about all the executives ('producers') going on strike and moving to their own little seperatist community -- they're doomed because none of them knows how to farm or change a light bulb.)

I was lucky, my dad was an aircraft mechanic and poor for most of his life prior to that, so the car never went to a mechanic. And when he was in high school he worked construction for his uncle, so all the house repairs were also DIY. And having no brothers or sisters I was always the designated assistant.

If you want to learn such stuff, when you get help ask to help out and ask what the person what they're thinking (how they're analyzing the problem). And like 1kKnives said there's lots on the internet these days.

no I am 18 ,so young enough, and I do D.I.Y .right now I'm sitting at my desk that I made myself. Although i get your point some people look absolutely clueless as to how to fix any simple object... :/
although I don't go near anything electrical as I have no knowledge on it and would probably make the situation worse lol

I'm not very technically gifted and electricity just plain scares me but I tought myself how to cook when I was un/deremployed and I also taught myself some DIY skills like stripping wallpaper, putting up wallpaper and painting.

It saves money and it's good fun. But my parents could do a lot more, they both lived through WWII and my mother made jam and preserved fruit and all the rest of it and this is what we ate during winter. Buying jam was considered frivolous and fruit was cheap to buy. Today it's different, unless you grow the fruit it is so expensive to buy that making jam feels like a waste of good strawberries which are so nice to eat fresh.

I cleaned out my own trap in a washing machine about a year ago.