Professor: Young People Are "Lost Generation" Who Can No Longer Fix Gadgets

antdude points out this story about one of the problems with our ever increasingly disposable world. "Young people in Britain have become a lost generation who can no longer mend gadgets and appliances because they have grown up in a disposable world, the professor giving this year's Royal Institution Christmas lectures has warned. Danielle George, Professor of Radio Frequency Engineering, at the University of Manchester, claims that the under 40s expect everything to 'just work' and have no idea what to do when things go wrong. Unlike previous generations who would ‘make do and mend’ now young people will just chuck out their faulty appliances and buy new ones. But Prof George claims that many broken or outdated gadgets could be fixed or repurposed with only a brief knowledge of engineering and electronics. "

Comments

Eloi

[mrflash818]

H.G. Wells has given us a glimpse how things might end up for those that cannot create/fix/use anything: meatl

Also

[jkonrath]

This generation doesn't know how to shoe horses. And they're terrible with cave drawings.

Re:Dupe

[LordLucless]

Well, churning your own butter is easy. Just accidentally forget about the cream you were beating in your mixer. Done that before.

Re:Integrated this, integrated that

[Harlequin80]

UUURRRRGHHH Points...... KILL ME NOW!

The points system is mechanically simple. It is also one of THE most horrible systems in the world to get working nicely. I have never been a smoker but points are a reason I always kept a packet of tally-ho cigarette papers. You put the paper in the point and then slowly advance then engine till you can pull the paper out. Ok that is where you are going to get your spark. Ok now that is 70 degrees out, lets take the whole thing apart and start again......

First thing I do on any restoration project is unscrew the points assembly, wash it, dry it, spray it with a lubricant, put it in a zip lock bag. And then replace it with an electronic ignition system.

Re:Dupe

[nmb3000]

Jamie goes to replace the battery in a Dodge Stratus they purchased and has to take one of the wheels off in order to access it

Not quite that bad, but I have an older Chevy Lumina and in order to replace the battery you have to

- remove a front-end crossbar, the bolts of which have about a 50% chance of being welded to the chassis with rust
- remove the windshield washer reservoir, which involves removing the pump that's attached at the bottom of the container (without spilling too much fluid on the battery)
- remove a bracket from overtop the batter which is connected to the chassis under the air filter housing, requiring at least a 10-inch wrench extender (12" is better)
- remove another bracket that holds the battery in place, also fixed with a bolt located 10 inches down a tiny hole.
- wrestle the battery out past the main fuse/distribution box, which it barely fits past without breaking it
- repeat the process in reverse with new battery

Here's a picture. It's a nightmare.

It's so bad I found several sites online describing the process and mocking the designers of the vehicle. I understand that space is at a premium under the hood, but FFS, this is just bad.