Millennials lack basic survival skills

[SketchMaster]

Last I checked, the Boy Scouts of America program was still around.

TBH, I'd really like to see Girl Scouts take a cue from the equality movement and start teaching girls the skills that Boy Scouts are given. There is no logical reason a woman can't do everything I did in Boy Scouts.

 

[lxskllr]

I'm almost 50 and I could probably give you 4-5 phone numbers. My home, my wife's phone number, my good friend's number and my work phone number. Maybe Moto Forza Ducati dealer in Encinitas.

I don't know my Mom's number or my son's phone number off the top of my head.

You're doing better than me. I know my mother's number. That's it. I don't even have a reliable recall of my own number :^D

 

[vi edit]

I'm almost 50 and I could probably give you 4-5 phone numbers. My home, my wife's phone number, my good friend's number and my work phone number. Maybe Moto Forza Ducati dealer in Encinitas.

I don't know my Mom's number or my son's phone number off the top of my head.

My parents and their parents before them didn't "memorize" numbers either. They had things called address books that were made from trees that you had to use your hands and another thing called a pencil that was also made from a tree that you had put in your hand and actually move it in structured patterns to make things called letters and numbers! And when they weren't at home and didn't have that magical book with them they often forgot numbers too!!!

 

[Murloc]

Which is only relevant to the tiny percentage of the population that travels on large bodies of water, or over them at altitudes low enough to give them even a snowball's chance in hell of making it into the water alive in the first place. And that's assuming the water's warm enough water to let them to survive long enough to be rescued even under the best possible circumstances...

the southern mediterranean in the summer is pretty warm, you usually get tired before you get cold when hanging out in the water.
Also boats are quite common in European holidaymaking, and the body of water doesn't have to be large to be open, it just doesn't have to be a pool, in my understanding of the word (this poll being carried out by the boat lobby and all).

Yeah forget tying knots etc.. It just seems that Millennials seem to lack the street smarts/drive/common sense/problem solving. A fear of failure as well. I am not impressed with the output coming out of Universities. All that safespace shit is so weird and then the whole outrage issue, it seems anything sets them off. I am not sure what the heck is going on anymore. They also seem intolerant about anything that is outside of their lane and will go apeshit about stupid stuff. The whole situation is quite odd.

It will be real interesting to see how it all pans out.

I spend too much time on the internet and thus I'm exposed to concepts like safe spaces and triggering and SJWs and participation trophies and the alt-right, but I never know if it's just tiny minorities being overblown by the power of the internet, or if mainstream millenials in america really are like that.

 

[Svnla]

I am all for the outdoor and fresh air and such but camping outside down here in the South during the summer = sucky big time, been there, done that and I was not a happy camper about it. I am ok for fall and spring camping but summer is no go for me.

 

[pete6032]

There's undoubtedly a lot of truth in that. A person in Tennessee or Arkansas is going to know more about fishing, hunting and camping than a person in New York City. But I also think there's a lot of truth to the notion that compared to people in the same areas and same income brackets and separating groups only by age, millennials are less adept at pretty much anything other than selfies. If there's not an app for it they can't do it.

There are a number of things Gen Xers are less adept at than millenials.

 

[Imp]

Meh on maps. I use GPS because it's easy, reliable, and more accurate/detailed than most paper maps. I can also read paper maps with a compass, they're just inconvenient. Oh, and I made maps for a living for a while... all the Gen X and boomers or whatever couldn't do it.

And it was 40+ year olds at my last job who couldn't get a car unstuck in the mud/ditch and who almost got me killed numerous times.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

There are a number of things Gen Xers are less adept at than millenials.

Apps? Exercising thumbs? Whining?

 

[GagHalfrunt]

There are a number of things Gen Xers are less adept at than millenials.

Other than electronic rubber-necking of other peoples lives and an obsessive need to be rubber-necked, pray tell what?

 

[vi edit]

There are a number of things Gen Xers are less adept at than millenials.

Please do tell. GenX holds the unique position in that they are the only of the three major generations (Boomer, X, Mills) to have grown up in the middle of the computing & internet era. We know life before computers. We know life with them. We've been through that entire transition during our formative years and have the bumps, bruises and scars associated with it. We are also the first ones to really start feeling the major effects of both parents working and the downsides associated with that. We really straddle the line between shaking selfie sticks at kids half our age with their faces burried in cell phones and raising our middle fingers at the old ass boomer establishment that still stands and continues to fuck us over.

 

[Darwin333]

My parents and their parents before them didn't "memorize" numbers either. They had things called address books that were made from trees that you had to use your hands and another thing called a pencil that was also made from a tree that you had put in your hand and actually move it in structured patterns to make things called letters and numbers! And when they weren't at home and didn't have that magical book with them they often forgot numbers too!!!

True but when I was a teen I had a beeper and I had dozens of numbers memorized. I didn't need to check an address book to call one of my good friends, I just knew their number off the top of my head. If one of my friends beeped me I generally knew who it was just by looking at the number. Today, I might know 5 numbers by heart and two of them haven't changed since I was a teen.

 

[MrSquished]

Really. Tying a knot? I mean who cares these days in a first world country. Fishing? Again, what's the deal.

Every newer generation gets a bad rap for something as the new worst newest generation.

Times change. Things evolve. If they have other problems by all means bring them forth - knot tying and fishing are irrelevant.

Although I do support everyone going camping a few times in their life. Puts one more in tune with nature overall as a general experience. The rest sounds like a crotchety old dodger wrote it.

 

[Squisher]

A sheepshank knot has to be one of the most useless knots there is.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I don't think this is only a millennial thing, but rather where/how people are raised. Someone raised in a big city who only knows big city life is probably going to lack most outdoors skills vs someone who lives in a more rural area. There are people who have never even seen stars in the sky before let alone trees and wildlife, or don't even know what they are. There was a huge black out in a large city somewhere (I don't recall the whole story or where it was) and people were calling 911 because they were seeing these weird lights in the sky. LOL. Kinda mind boggling actually. I can walk out my house and see stars and sometimes even northern lights, something that can be taken for granted I guess.

Though being able to truly survive if shit hits the fan is a good skill most people probably do not have these days in general. I admit even myself I would have trouble at first if everything with to crap overnight. I know basics, but a lot of stuff I'd normally just Google, but if Google is no longer available then you have to figure everything else yourself. Like what mushrooms/plants are safe to eat, and which ones arn't. Proper way to grow stuff, what to use as fertilizer, best way to start a fire without matches, how to treat any kind of illness or infection, stuff like that. Come to think of it, this is something that should be thought in school, there should be a survival class and it should be part of the regular curriculum.

 

[MrSquished]

I don't think this is only a millennial thing, but rather where/how people are raised. Someone raised in a big city who only knows big city life is probably going to lack most outdoors skills vs someone who lives in a more rural area. There are people who have never even seen stars in the sky before let alone trees and wildlife, or don't even know what they are. There was a huge black out in a large city somewhere (I don't recall the whole story or where it was) and people were calling 911 because they were seeing these weird lights in the sky. LOL. Kinda mind boggling actually. I can walk out my house and see stars and sometimes even northern lights, something that can be taken for granted I guess.

Though being able to truly survive if shit hits the fan is a good skill most people probably do not have these days in general. I admit even myself I would have trouble at first if everything with to crap overnight. I know basics, but a lot of stuff I'd normally just Google, but if Google is no longer available then you have to figure everything else yourself. Like what mushrooms/plants are safe to eat, and which ones arn't. Proper way to grow stuff, what to use as fertilizer, best way to start a fire without matches, how to treat any kind of illness or infection, stuff like that. Come to think of it, this is something that should be thought in school, there should be a survival class and it should be part of the regular curriculum.

Dude. I started going backpacking a few years ago. Nothing extreme, just two 1-2 night trips a season. It's expensive to get the good gear to go backpacking, most of my friends aren't into it except one who moved across the country, and another with 2 very young kids, so he can go once a year. Meetup.com groups fill in the rest.

But who cares if you can tie a knot if you can't live out in the wilderness. If you don't have proper sleeping gear and a tent, water filtration, etc... or what not. You'll be out in the wilderness with a knot tied in a rope and your dick in your hand. I can technically go out in the woods for a week, fully geared, and survive in great shape. But once you start getting into 2 or 3 weeks, it's not happening. The biggest thing is hunger. You got your warmth, you got your shelter, you got your water filtration IF you can find a source, but you don't have food. And water filtration is temporary. Eventually your filter will get clogged and need a forceful backwash. Good luck with that if you can't find a waterfall or very fast flowing water.

It's hard enough to do with all the proper gear, let alone winging it. I mean I guess I technically have a bug out bag as my backpack stays packed minus the sleeping bag. And learning how to backpack doesn't really require you to learn how to forage in the wild. Or other things that may eventually become necessary once your meager rations deplete after say a week.

This whole thread is stupid.

 

[deustroop]

Well I think the survey may underline a disturbing trend in urban living. I hold as axiomatic that humans belong in nature by which I mean under the stars, in the fields , appreciating fire and water and running through the grass. Smelling the earth is possible in a city , some stars are viewable at night in suburban areas but unfortunately , the survey suggests to me the fact that urbanites are more and more separated from what makes us human, the outdoor life in general and nature in particular. The more this separation happens, the less happy we feel , the more angry we can become, the less sense we find in our lives.This may be why riots devastate city cores where there is no nature at all.

As populations and cities expand, nature disappears--think endless urban blight like in some third world shit hole, condo construction here and animal extinctions everywhere . People who have never lived outdoors and enjoyed the connections there will never understand or care when its gone , or at least is only remotely available . Logically then, some lost tribe in Bora Bora is better off than many of our neighbours. Can that be true ?

Life will go on of course but I understand from futurists, that eventually humans will have to move elsewhere because everything that supports life on earth will be gone.
The survey disappoints me.
Just a thought .

 

[MrSquished]

Well I think the survey may underline a disturbing trend in urban living. I hold as axiomatic that humans belong in nature by which I mean under the stars, in the fields , appreciating fire and water and running through the grass. Smelling the earth is possible in a city , some stars are viewable at night in suburban areas but unfortunately , the survey suggests to me the fact that urbanites are more and more separated from what makes us human, the outdoor life in general and nature in particular. The more this separation happens, the less happy we feel , the more angry we can become, the less sense we find in our lives.This may be why riots devastate city cores where there is no nature at all.

As populations and cities expand, nature disappears--think endless urban blight like in some third world shit hole, condo construction here and animal extinctions everywhere . People who have never lived outdoors and enjoyed the connections there will never understand or care when its gone , or at least is only remotely available . Logically then, some lost tribe in Bora Bora is better off then many of our neighbours. Can that be true ?

Life will go on of course but I understand from futurists, that eventually humans will have to move elsewhere because everything that supports life on earth will be gone.
The survey disappoints me.
Just a thought .

I'm sure that the gravitation towards urban areas is changing our affinity to nature. But the will and the availability to do so is there for anyone. I live in the NYC metro area, the most populated metropolitan area in the country. I'm 10 minutes from Manhattan by train, but If I drive a bit over an hour north I can hit some NY State Parks that have amazing hiking and backpacking trails I have taken advantage of. Or an hour and a half west and do the same at the Delaware Water Gap. You will see full starry skies believe me in panoramic views. It's so peaceful.

But like I stated above, you could have a fully kitted out higher-end backpacking set of gear and pretty much have your food last a week or two depending on what you can carry. If you eat normally. Ration that and it will last longer. After that you better start foraging or growing your own. Cause that's it champ. Know how to tie all the knots in the world and you aren't gonna eat that rope. Fishing might help, if you can find a body of water stocked well enough and have the gear.

I do support that camping, even just car camping, is taught in schools. I think it would help everyone. Teaching someone to be survivorman, that's another story.

 

[highland145]

And it was 40+ year olds at my last job who couldn't get a car unstuck in the mud/ditch and who almost got me killed numerous times.

The bounty is still open................BRB.

 

[Billb2]

The Millennials are what's turning us into a service economy.

 

[highland145]

The Millennials are what's turning us into a service economy.

wut? I thought we've been a service economy for many years.

 

[vi edit]

wut? I thought we've been a service economy for many years.

No kidding. They are victims of a service economy.

 

[highland145]

I don't know if victim is the right word. The middle class jobs that paid a decent wage shrunk 1st.

 

[vi edit]

They've been setup to fail since birth. Manufacturing went the way of Mexico and China, so those jobs are limited. Skilled trades were sold as "lesser" jobs. Minimum wage is not a living wage. So what is left? They are told from the start of elementary school that they have to go to college. So they go to college and take on a pile debt. Only to come out to a flooded job market with a bunch of boomers clinging on for dear life to their inflated incomes and benefits. And when they retire the boomer administration eliminates the positions because it's an easy way to fluff up profits and make the bottom line look good. So they retreat back to school for more education and loans and hope to come out again when the market is better. Oh and they've seen the wasteland of marriage and divorce rates brought on by their boomer parents/older Genx parents so they are sour on the idea of marriage. But are stuck with the lucrative housing costs created by dual income households the previous two generations before them. So they have a huge pile of debt. Take forever to find a job since the market for highly educated positions is low and they were never given an option for skilled labor. And they can't afford to buy a house even if they had a job. So they retreat back to their parents place and attempt to dig themselves out of it.

I really feel sorry for this generation. They've been left a plate of crumbs and huge tab to pickup after everyone else bolted.

 

[xthetenth]

Well I think the survey may underline a disturbing trend in urban living. I hold as axiomatic that humans belong in nature by which I mean under the stars, in the fields , appreciating fire and water and running through the grass. Smelling the earth is possible in a city , some stars are viewable at night in suburban areas but unfortunately , the survey suggests to me the fact that urbanites are more and more separated from what makes us human, the outdoor life in general and nature in particular. The more this separation happens, the less happy we feel , the more angry we can become, the less sense we find in our lives.This may be why riots devastate city cores where there is no nature at all.

As populations and cities expand, nature disappears--think endless urban blight like in some third world shit hole, condo construction here and animal extinctions everywhere . People who have never lived outdoors and enjoyed the connections there will never understand or care when its gone , or at least is only remotely available . Logically then, some lost tribe in Bora Bora is better off than many of our neighbours. Can that be true ?

Life will go on of course but I understand from futurists, that eventually humans will have to move elsewhere because everything that supports life on earth will be gone.
The survey disappoints me.
Just a thought .

Are humans a component of nature or are they a species of intelligent tool using omnivores that can and do shape their environment even at a stone age level of technology? It's been thousands of years since nature humans hadn't impacted (frequently in a big way, there's a reason the Americas were so bountiful and it's not an accident) has been readily available, and it's been over 70 years since the anthropocene era began (and for good reason although it might be frankly a bit conservative).

They've been setup to fail since birth. Manufacturing went the way of Mexico and China, so those jobs are limited. Skilled trades were sold as "lesser" jobs. Minimum wage is not a living wage. So what is left? They are told from the start of elementary school that they have to go to college. So they go to college and take on a pile debt. Only to come out to a flooded job market with a bunch of boomers clinging on for dear life to their inflated incomes and benefits. And when they retire the boomer administration eliminates the positions because it's an easy way to fluff up profits and make the bottom line look good. So they retreat back to school for more education and loans and hope to come out again when the market is better. Oh and they've seen the wasteland of marriage and divorce rates brought on by their boomer parents/older Genx parents so they are sour on the idea of marriage. But are stuck with the lucrative housing costs created by dual income households the previous two generations before them. So they have a huge pile of debt. Take forever to find a job since the market for highly educated positions is low and they were never given an option for skilled labor. And they can't afford to buy a house even if they had a job. So they retreat back to their parents place and attempt to dig themselves out of it.

I really feel sorry for this generation. They've been left a plate of crumbs and huge tab to pickup after everyone else bolted.

Don't forget dealing with complaints and grousing about things like participation trophies, which frankly exist for the parents and trophy companies and not the kids. It'd be funny if it weren't sad how badly screwed up things have become just because parents want to believe they're living in a world where opportunity is real and exists for kids even as their kids' future got sold to fund their parents' delusions in their past. We grew up getting trophies for showing up and told that if we showed up to college we'd get something and all we got was a participation trophy for life. Not to worry though, the country and world aren't a horribly distorted mess from continual mistakes made because a generation can't admit their failings, that generation keeps electing people that told them so!

If I'm being honest, crapping on me and my generation at work seems to correspond nearly exactly with being utterly useless at anything outside some core competency (if we're lucky) and having seriously atrophied skills in dealing with technology. I don't think it's an accident that a worldview that minimizes the real skills and priorities of a generation is correlated with sucking at those skills and misunderstanding those priorities.

That's a bitter as hell and pretty limited to the middle class perspective, but frankly I think that I'm in the socioeconomic bracket with the least to complain about that still has complaints (I'm gonna go wild here and say the rich don't have anything to complain about considering they got sold the world, and at a great price).

 

[olds]

https://youtu.be/hER0Qp6QJNU