When it comes to do-it-yourself projects, a new study has shown that a quick comparison of baby boomer dads and millennial dads is not much of comparison. Millennial dads have “pathetic” DIY skills as opposed to baby boomer dads.
According to new research, millennial dads are less capable than their own dads when it comes to everyday DIY fixes. Millennial dads prefer to rely on professional help instead. Millennial dads are less likely than their boomer counterparts to be able to change a car tire on the side of the road, unblock a toilet or sink, reset a tripped circuit breaker, or even open a stuck pickle jar with their hands. Not only does this lack of basic DIY skill mean home repairs are often left longer unfixed, but it also means millennials are spending more money on things than baby boomers who already know how to do those menial repairs.
According to a report by The New York Post, a new poll of 1,000 millennial dads and 1,000 baby boomer dads found that when a DIY task needed to be done at home, more than half of millennials prefer to call a professional and when it comes to emergency “handiness” scenarios, millennial dads fall short in almost every category. Not only have their overall handyman skills declined, but the quality of the “modern dad’s” toolkit has also declined according to the new survey, conducted by OnePoll on behalf of Alarm.com.
Many millennial dads reported not owning a cordless drill (46%), a stepladder (49%), a set of screwdrivers (38%) or even a hammer (32 percent) — an item owned by 93% of boomer dads. –The New York Post
Modern technology got the blame for the decline in handiness skills and the lack of adequate tools to complete the projects. “The technology in the average home has evolved,” says Anne Ferguson, VP of marketing at Alarm.com. “Hi-tech upgrades like smart home technology require professional support, especially safety and security upgrades. Even the handiest dads see the value of partnering with a professional service provider on an important project like a smart home security system.”
Millennials are much more likely to have “smart home” devices too, meaning they will spend more on the devices and the maintenance than baby boomers spend to simply fix a broken doorbell. While boomer dads have the edge when it comes to traditional DIY, 62% of boomer dads concede that millennial dads are better at tech-related tasks.
Because of examples such as this, both generations agree that the definition of a “handy dad” has changed. 79% percent of millennials and 74% percent of baby boomers agreed with that assessment. “Just as dads’ roles have evolved, so has the definition of handiness,” says Ferguson, according to NYP. “Today’s time-pressed dads are quick to master new tools like apps and mobile technology for their families’ benefit. They’re also more likely to outsource time-consuming home maintenance to professionals who have the tools and training to get the job done right — a handy trade-off that enables today’s dads to spend more time with the people they love.”
This could be a sign of the baby boomer generation being more likely to know the skills necessary to thrive, meaning they may be better prepared for emergency situations and catastrophes than their millennial counterparts. It’s difficult to say for sure, considering the survey was only dedicated to DIY projects, however, many of those skills can cross over into a survivalist mindset and it might be something to at least ponder.
I never hurts to know how to do things on your own!
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Outsourcing/paying someone else to do it means more taxes to the government. Withdraw consent. Do everything yourself and keep your wife at home rather than paying someone else to take care of the house and kids.
I am not a millennial dad..more of boomer grandpa. At my age I am tired of running back and forth to the hardware store for either another part, or a tool, taking 2 hrs to do a 10 minute fix, and have my wife complain that I can’t do anything right. So, I call a fixit person (plumber, electrician, etc..) to fix what I need fixing. This way I can spend my precious time tending to the garden, reloading, shooting, working out, and fishing.
When I was younger, I used to do my own oil changes and other basic and routine maintenance tasks on my vehicle – but, haven’t done that for many years. Part of the reason is age, but another big factor is how aggravating it has become to pop the hood on a modern vehicle and have enough room to work on it with basic hand tools. I am convinced that the assholes who control the major car manufacturers sit down and actually dream up ways to make it as difficult as possible for a shade tree mechanic to do something as simple as changing a set of spark plugs or to replace a belt or alternator or anything else. They deliberately design the engines and the attached components in such a way as to make what once was a 20 minute task turn into a 3 hour task, so as to rape the customer who takes their vehicle to a garage out of the maximum amount of labor charge dollars.
Plus, there is trend towards designing engines in such a way as to require the use of special tools and wrenches that are not commonly available in most of the standard shade tree mechanic’s tool box.
As for around the house DIY projects or repairs, I have invested in several DIY books – some for plumbing, some for basic electricity troubleshooting, and there is always youtube where you can look for visual answers to a lot of common DIY projects.
My bottom line policy, though – is the old Dirty Harry line that says: ‘A man needs to know his limitations’. I’ve known older guys who’s gigantic ego have gotten them into some projects that greatly exceeded their ability and expertise – and after screwing things up, they wound up having to hire a pro to come in to clean up the mess they made and it turned out to be far more expensive than it would have been had they called the pro to begin with.
It all really depends on who taught the millennials their skills. If they learned from a baby boomer with plenty of experience then they will be alright. But if they learned from a shithead then all bets are off.
You know, they used to offer Shop Class at kids schools, so that even an idiot could do a minor repair. But in the 90s it just went away. I remember this. Nobody has it now.
They do however know their way around a computer keyboard and tech gadgets that I know nothing about.
K2,
I’m a boomer and I’m not impressed with their technical skills!
About the only thing they can do better than me is type faster.
These “gadgets” while impressive in capability are not magic.
I’d bet you could read a ladder diagram, better than most.
Give one of those to these “tech wonders” they would not have a clue. They have no concept of how those keystrokes get converted into processing of millions of gallons of petroleum products.
I’m a self taught PLC program designer.
But I have one of those STEM degrees.
Rellik, I’m also a boomer and I only know of a few millennials with the right mindset and some decent skills. Those few will be OK. But the rest of them will be toast.
rellik
Granted their mechanical skills are largely lacking but they came of age with planned obsolesce. Stuff breaks today you often just toss it away as its not with fixing and break it does. We’ve been going through clothes washers every 6 or so years; back when it was a two decade item with rare failures. In the day I’de pull a cylinder head, today I’m not getting near that plumbing / wiring and worse yet computer nightmare. Strip off the junk and I can do something, have a bug, a gremlin in there and I’m thinking this just isn’t worth the aggravation. Milennial’s may not be classically technically smart but they use the various devices more often and for everything, hence great familiarity. While it’s in their hands they lead but if or when they’re divorced from such contraptions they’re sadly screwed. We (speaking for boomers) can more successfully navigate (maybe not too comfortably) in their world but they (generalizing) can’t in ours. They’re products of their environment.
“They’re products of their environment”
That’s it in a nutshell..
Millenials were born into technology and have always had it available at the touch of a button.I still have an old floor model TV I bought in ‘81’ that is still in excellent condition.
My 26 year old niece laughed when she seen the TV and asked where the remote was? She couldn’t believe that we actually had to get off our rear ends and physically change the channel before remotes were invented..Same with cellphones…Millenials can’t imagine life without cellphones even though we got by just fine without them..
K2, Millennials are ‘gadget people’ and entertaining-oriented. They use technology but have little understanding of how it works. They appear to be tech-smart but actually technology has adapted to their ignorance (facebook, ebay, gps are great examples). Ask them to create a web page using html, a checkbook spreadsheet, or use a map and you’ll be looking at deer in the headlights. For years they have been proudly taking photos and videos of themselves. Wow! Impressive? Try asking them, ‘Can you show me pictures of Christmas 2012’?
As for DIY skills and ‘life skills’ I’d say they have always been inversely proportional to population density.
Kevin2, that and whining are the only 2 things I know of that they’re good at.
A tech savvy DIY guy rules them all (GenX here)… More information than ever out there to fix a problem (like Youtube) from professionals who give you tricks of the trade to fix just about anything. GenX with the skills and knowledge and persistence to overcome the laziness and quitting of the entitled gen with the tech knowledge to do more complex stuff like security installations that scare the crap out of the Boomers. I can cut a large tree down and chop it up as much as i can work through a Linux program. The money you saved not getting RIPPED OFF from contractors who look for snowflakes to take advantage of and doing the project with materials you know are quality since you bought them yourself is priceless.
Boomers were born after ww2. Their fathers were depression hardened and many had served in the army, navy, airforce, or marines during the war. The boomers had fathers with skills handed down for generations from father to son. They also had woodshop at school.
The millennials were by in large the product of broken homes where the mother was head of household, the father was remarried and overwhelmed with a new family; and child support payments, which he could make in place of hands on with his sons.
Of course millenials have “pathetic” DIY skills compared with the men born right after the second world war. What else would you expect? I think they do pretty well considering.
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Yep…the Chilton and Haynes manuals are all gathering dust in the cupboard. Internet is the new king for info.
One of my most admired men is an older Boomer and Luddite. He and his extended family have lived off-grid for 20 years. He is an expert on solar to electric power, performs 100% of the maintenance on EMP-proof clunkers and small engines, and is our ham radio net/antenna go-to-guy. Would you call him tech-savvy? I would.
This article, and most like it, are either clueless, or are intentionally leaving out one tiny thing: the generation in between!
Yes, there IS a generation in between the boomers and the millenials. That generation is the one which the hands-on boomers produced, with the latchkey kids who basically fended for themselves and raised themselves. These were the kids the boomers were too busy divorcing each other to give a second thought about. And why bother when the boomers were such a large part of the population and could set the narrative to always look positively upon them?! The boomers who started off as the idealistic hippies but quickly caved to the corporate degeneracy which allowed the dumbing down of the schools, the invasion by way of our southern border, and the flaming propaganda promoting interracial EVERYTHING as if that garbage was ever normal! The boomers who never questioned the Fort Knoxx scandal or the Rockafeller manipulations for some reason. Their children, GenX, surely inherited a lot of B.S. from their boomer parents but over time (and for the first time ever) they didnt inherit a home or anything of value as the boomers and previous generations had. They inherited instead an economy that has been flat and stayed flat their entire lives, although you wouldnt know it by the boomers out-of-touch braggadocio. The boomers were focussed more on THEMSELVES than they ever were on their own children or trying to guard their childrens futures which is why they never bothered to pay attention to the rampant remaking of this country into a socialist hellhole while they were off seducing their secretaries and divorcing their wives. The GenXers are a miniscule group compared to their parents, but they birthed the millenials who now rival the boomers numbers. The millenials finally wrangled the voting monopoly away from the neglectful, self-absorbed boomers who are determined to take every dime from everyone else and spend it before they go, leaving generations on unborn Americans to pay for their gluttony and narcissism. At least we have THAT!
A little whine and crow, first the whine, what about the forgotten Gen. X,… 🙁 Now the crow my son started working with me before going to school with unloading & sort 5am trailers at 16, got just over a yrs exp. as warehouseman now, make him change the tires/oil and has been boxing since 10. Fathering can be done, one does have to commit.
* the layout, if you would but the title of the boxes above the box, ie have name directly under “leave a reply”.
This is a good place to start:
https://filestore.scouting.org/filestore/Merit_Badge_ReqandRes/Home_Repairs.pdf
This is a good place to start:
If you’re physically unable to do something that is a perfect reason to hire someone to do it for you. No excuses needed. But – if able – real men do it themselves- 1. to make sure the job is done correctly and 2. To keep their skills up. Otherwise you’re just a whiney pussy bitch. This world is full of whiney pussy bitches full of excuses.
Lisa changes own diaper —
youtube.com/watch?v=O0B3ETgvwfA
Old Economy Steve memes —
knowyourmeme.com/memes/old-economy-steven
Scumbag Babyboomers memes —
quickmeme.com/Scumbag-Baby-Boomers/
Most of us were stuck in the Stone Age, while you wished we would go extinct.
The stronger ones became hairier and with sturdy bone structure. I disciplined myself, intuitively, broadening my knuckles, shoulders and forebrow. Think of ways you might combat boredom in a prison situation, and you can understand why my 12 looks and sounds like your 25.
Self sufficiency is a form of rebellion, when parents act like antifa / mod subculture / hipsters / preteens in arrested development.
Think of that story abut the Eskimo kid being slid out, on the ice, and explain to me why you have commanded the respect of any of the survivors.
Incel Rebellion scene from ‘the Bounty’ —
youtube.com/watch?v=AZIlLRwCn08