The British insurance company Aviva recently released their annual Home Report which detailed, among numerous findings about how people do work around the house, relatively common tasks that people encounter. The company surveyed 2004 people across the UK in February and March about their habits and roles at home.
In addition to just one in five not being able to change a lightbulb or boil an egg, the survey found that nearly a third of the participants couldn't cook any meal on the fly. And if someone were to spill a portion of their meal on their clothes or on the floor, only 59 percent would know how to get rid of the resulting stain.
Only 37 percent could change a flat tire.
The findings were even surprising to the folks behind the study.
"As a nation we tend to take pride in our ability to do things ourselves in and around the home, so it's a surprise to see there could be a skills gap in places," says Aviva Propositions Director Adam Beckett in a press release. "That said, we also know that people lead busy lives, so while we enjoy doing things ourselves, we also appreciate the opportunity to leave things to a professional from time to time, particularly with some of the more challenging jobs."
Interestingly, while 50 percent of those surveyed said they learned how to do a home task on their by trial and error, plenty of people are turning to the internet for help, especially millennials. The study found four in 10 people aged 25 and under prefer learning do-it-yourself chores online. That's more than twice the number in the age group who turn to an actual book for help.
Here's a look at the polled tasks and the number of people who indicated they could successfully complete them:
The things that we were all knowledgeable of have been removed from our expertise as they are now the province of professionals. I remember so well my college sociology teacher explaining how bureaucracies create themselves. The take information known to all and restrict its access by the general population. This then becomes their specialized knowledge. Instead of building a house we pay to have it built. We are told society could not operate any other way. Hooey.
We previously learned from parent and now the parent is away at work while we are minded. Add to our burden with the never ending stream of introduced toxins and soon we will be the epitome of the intelligence-reduced human mining Naquada in Star Trek.