How many of you all actually read the instructions upon opening a complicated put-it-together project? Anyone at all? I know I don’t…
And how many of you will still be in that same spot, 5 hours later, struggling to fit peg E into hole F with little or no success? You know, with the family members standing around going, “You need some help with that?”
Unsurprisingly, I’ve done that as well…
But by and large, the spirit of DIY is actually dwindling amongst Americans nowadays. We don’t often build, we don’t do repairs, and I think, really, we just don’t want to work at it much anymore.
What do you think?
If you build it, you’re unusual; survey finds more in U.S. avoid hands-on projects or repairs
By Rick Barrett
December 17, 2009
Milwaukee Journal SentinelMILWAUKEE — The United States has become a nation of “non-tinkerers,” a new survey shows, and it has harmed the way we live and work.
In a poll of 1,000 U.S. adults, nearly six in 10 said they had never made or built a toy.
Twenty-seven percent had not made or built even one item from a list of eight common projects, including furniture and a flower box.
Sixty percent avoided doing major household repairs themselves, noted the survey from The Foundation of the Fabricators and Manufacturers Association, based in Rockford, Ill.
It’s worrisome because the “hands off” policy around the house has kept people from learning valuable skills — including ones associated with productive careers, according to the association, which has more than 2,300 members in the metal fabrication industry.