Oklahoma’s Gen Z Faces DIY Dilemma: Lacking Basic Skills

Have you ever read something online and thought "That can't be right." This happened to me a few days ago when I saw something about how our youngest generation of adults can't change a light bulb. I know several Gen-Z from at least three corners of Oklahoma - I'm related to them all - and I thought this had to be some sort of Boomer propaganda.

I was wrong.

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I ended up on Google reading several articles like this about studies of Gen Z, specifically their unwillingness to do basic maintenance. It's not even slanted against their generation; it was all self-reported through a series of surveys.

While Gen Z can be between 11 and 27 years old, a poll was conducted among the 18+ adult Zoomers about simple and entirely normal tasks around the house.

As it turns out, Gen-Z adults spend approximately four times as much in general maintenance around their homes and on their vehicles as Baby Boomers. That's also roughly double what Gen-X and Millennials spend on the same things.

Simple tasks such as changing windshield wipers were listed as taboo amongst the youngest adults - which shouldn't come at a cost. Most auto parts stores will throw in installation when you buy in-store.

The wildest example was one young adult who went on about how he hired a handyman to replace light bulbs in his home. While that's a hilarious notion to consider, he wasn't the only person admitting it. 1 in 5 Zoomers admitted they had done the same thing.

Is Gen-Z truly a lost generation?

As the more studies I looked through, the more I started to think--I don't think Gen-Z is lost or incapable... I think it's just laziness.

That's not a generalization from your friendly neighborhood Millennial, I can give examples here.

I have an 18-year-old nephew who puts air in his bald tire every day because he can't fathom the thought of going to the tire shop to get it fixed. He doesn't have the time in his busy schedule to work his eight hours, and then spend another eight hours hanging out in an empty parking lot.

All the same, I've watched him pull the valve covers off his engine to replace a failing rocker arm before.

He's not incapable, he really is just lazy when he wants to be. He also refuses to learn skills unless you bully him into it a little bit, but I hope that's his immaturity rather than a generational trait he may share with 69.3 million others in his generation.

Is all hope lost for Gen-Z?

I've listened to our collective Silent and Baby Boomer generations complain about Millennials my entire life. From my grandpa talking about working the family farm during the Dust Bowl, to my own parents telling me "How are you broke? We made it with three kids on less than that!" as they came of age in the 1970s and 80s when a dollar was still worth a dollar.

Even you have to admit that our generations are vastly different, but even so, perhaps history is repeating itself. which it tends to do.

There's a quote from a Gen-X author which I'm sure you've likely heard at some point in your life.

Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.

That resonates with most people, and in my family, it may be entirely true. My own parents started with nothing, but they built a life for us. We didn't have much, but we had everything we needed. Shoes on our feet, food on the table. A house that was always parked in the same place. As we grew up and walked out into the world, we capitalized on our parent's momentum and the three of us have all had it pretty good.

I never had kids. My eldest sister didn't either. Mom blames herself for this because she used to get frustrated and tell us to "let our bloodlines die" every time one of us got in trouble

True story.

In turn, we've all lived vicariously through our middle sisters' two kids. They've wanted for nothing their entire lives, and only in hindsight can we see the result.

I gave my nephew a motorcycle for Christmas one year. Within two months it was no longer good enough. He's asked for a new dirt bike every year since. A side-by-side too, and when we explain the cost, his response is generally "It's only $20,000..."

Our other nephew did the same with his first car. Through a series of trades over the last two and a half years, he's managed to turn a pristine and new Camaro SS into a broken-down socially trendy diesel pickup with 250k miles on it.

I love that he's a wheeler dealer, but he hasn't quite perfected the whole "Don't be a sucker" thing on Facebook Marketplace.

Hindsight being 20/20, it's not their fault. It's probably ours.

Back in my day...

It's not wasted on me here, You're probably thinking the same thing. We're slowly becoming our parents, but unlike generations of the past, we can admit our own shortcomings. I was guilty of similar shenanigans when I was a kid.

For instance, I was in need of a pair of shoes when I was my youngest nephew's age. Dad bought me a nice new pair of sneakers one day, but they were white.

In the 90s, only nerds and dweebs wore white shoes. Feeling the social pressure, I took a magic marker to them in art class the next day.

Dad was very upset when he saw it. While I understand it today with my fully-formed frontal cortex, at the time I thought "Why do you care, they're my shoes?" Something both of our nephews repeat when they tear something up in the hopes we'll rush out and buy them something new.

When I'm locked into a conversation when someone is complaining about our youth, the white sneakers scandal memory keeps me thinking that our nephews are most likely normal kids.

Spoiled beyond belief, but normal.

If anything, this may be a good reminder that we need to put a little effort into teaching our kids how to do the regular, everyday type of stuff. Change a tire. A light bulb. How to edge a concrete with a string trimmer. How to cook. You know, the usual stuffs.