Or have others noticed that an unreasonably large percentage of them are completely mechanically inept? Is there a stigma among them against all things that involve threaded fasteners?
I grew up in a world where all the guys I knew could turn a wrench and fix things. Now it seems damn few can figure out how to perform the simplest mechanical operations. Is my perspective skewed?
It's not just you. And it's not just millennials, unfortunately.
Yup, nothing new.
I grew up in the burbs, but can handle most hand tools, power tools can work with wood or metal, weld, troubleshoot basic electronics, reload, gunsmith, wrench on vehicles and have done more than my share of home remodeling jobs. When I was a kid if my dad was changing the oil in the car or building something for the house I'd be right there watching what he was doing. When the neighbor across the street was wrenching on a car, motorcycle or go kart I'd be watching him and passing him tools. I built models as a kid and took woodshop and auto shop as electives as I was interested in working with my hands. Helped a buddy build a race car from scratch, built my own boat from plans.
My brother would sit in his room and read books. He has limited mechanical aptitude.
I think the biggest problem with millennials is most of them were plopped in front of TV's from a young age, played video games and fiddle with their phones all the time. They don't have a physical connection to animate objects.
On the flip side, it's amazing how for most any project you can google it and find youtube videos or chat forums where someone has written a tutorial of how to do the job. So it's easier then ever for a millennial to tackle such tasks if they're willing to make the effort.
