Millennials Struggle to Pass Life Skills 101

According to the new book Beyond Texting, Millennial teens are in dire need of guidance on face-to-face communication. It’s one among many life skills parents and educators believe could use polishing. In recent years, for example, a growing contingent has advocated for the return of mandated “home ec” and shop classes in schools. Millennials are genuine achievers when it comes to structured classroom knowledge. Today, a record share of 25- to 29-year-olds possess degrees from four-year colleges (33%) and high schools (90%). The number who pass AP exams every year has more than quintupled over the past decade. On campuses, they take “smart” drugs to boost concentration—where older Boomers and Xers once took “dumb” drugs to mellow out. But when it comes to basic life skills, let’s be honest: Older generations are often astonished by how little Millennials know. Consider cars. Young Boomers spent endless afternoons tooling around with their tie rods and carburetors. But today’s Millennials spend more time perfecting the trip playlist than ever looking under the hood—if they even know where the latch is. As Forbes columnist Larissa Faw reports, most Millennial drivers don’t know how to check their tire pressure and only half have read their car’s owner manual. Cooking is another practical skill that has dropped by the wayside. According to a recent marketing report, Millennials are far more likely than older generations to order food from restaurants for delivery or carry out. They’re also driving the rise of “grocerants”: grocery stores that provide ready-made meals. Fully 78% of Millennials have purchased these prepared foods in the past 30 days, compared to 68% of Xers, 60% of Boomers, and 57% of Silent. In fact, Millennials are unfamiliar with a broad range of life skills. They are less likely than older generations to know how to sew, make basic home repairs, or drive manual-transmission cars. With GPS always at their fingertips, many never really learned to use physical landmarks to guide them. Some can’t even imagine how people functioned before mobile IT. One Millennial wrote an article asking older people how they used to look up information, meet up with friends in public places, and handle getting lost without smartphones. A Boomer responded that he visited the library, scheduled meet-ups, and learned to read a road map.