LONDON — Are you handy enough that if a lightbulb went out in your home you’d be able to change it? Believe it or not, one in five people aren’t so skilled. In fact, a new survey of people in the United Kingdom finds not only do about 20 percent of people not know how to change a bulb — the same number aren’t sure how to boil an egg, either.
The British insurance company Aviva recently released their annual Home Report which detailed, among numerous findings about how people do work around the house, relatively common tasks that people encounter. The company surveyed 2004 people across the UK in February and March about their habits and roles at home.
In addition to just one in five not being able to change a lightbulb or boil an egg, the survey found that nearly a third of the participants couldn’t cook any meal on the fly. And if someone were to spill a portion of their meal on their clothes or on the floor, only 59 percent would know how to get rid of the resulting stain.
Only 37 percent could change a flat tire.
The findings were even surprising to the folks behind the study.
“As a nation we tend to take pride in our ability to do things ourselves in and around the home, so it’s a surprise to see there could be a skills gap in places,” says Aviva Propositions Director Adam Beckett in a press release. “That said, we also know that people lead busy lives, so while we enjoy doing things ourselves, we also appreciate the opportunity to leave things to a professional from time to time, particularly with some of the more challenging jobs.”
Interestingly, while 50 percent of those surveyed said they learned how to do a home task on their by trial and error, plenty of people are turning to the internet for help, especially millennials. The study found four in 10 people aged 25 and under prefer learning do-it-yourself chores online. That’s more than twice the number in the age group who turn to an actual book for help.
Here’s a look at the polled tasks and the number of people who indicated they could successfully complete them:
| Â Task | Percentage who feel confident doing this task |
| Boil an egg | 81% |
| Change a light bulb | 79% |
| Cook a complete meal without using a recipe | 69% |
| Read a map | 66% |
| Sew on a button | 65% |
| Unblock a sink | 62% |
| Remove a stain from a carpet or clothing | 59% |
| Change a baby’s nappy | 57% |
| Wire a plug | 57% |
| ‘Bleed’ a radiator | 53% |
| Check oil levels in a car | 53% |
| Put up a shelf | 47% |
| Put up wallpaper | 39% |
| Change a flat tire | 37% |
| Change a washer on a tap | 30% |
| Fit tiles | 22% |
Click here to read the entire report, which broke down the findings by age groups and revealed many other interesting results.
I learned this stuff from my folks. Guess little ‘geniuses’ today are too busy staring at a mobile phone, researching climate change, or some equally useless drivel. Mom? Dad? Irrelevant!
This reflects a large immigrant population that didn’t grow up with these things and when a problem such as one of these arise they call their appointed case worker to take care of it.
Crushed Shrillary fan-girl.
This is why I pray that we get hit by some massive CME (that would be a solar flare if you didn’t know), and one morning we all wake up to a global power outage. The way I figure, after about 6 months or so, all of society’s “drift wood” would be weeded out. By drift wood, I mean all those that don’t know how to start a fire without matches, read a map, find water, hunt, forage for, or grow their own food, or in layman’s terms…..SURVIVE. I see those that are dependent on things like the internet, facebook, and snapchat jumping off of cliffs because they can’t see what some ditsy Kardashian sister is wearing or who they’re screwing. Fine by me.
in America, we call those people hillary supporters.
WOW.. I wonder how bad it would be with our Democrats?! hahaha! ..Let me guess…
This is what happens when you let 5,000,000 Somalian,and Arabic Muslims take over your once brutally powerful ,and proud Nation.Add them to a bunch of ecstacy popping ,hyper-liberal Millennials ,and you are toast ! Kind of like here in USA !
Wow, glad to know that I am in the majority, and that I taught my children how to do most of these things.
Q: how many people does it take to change a lightbulb?
Liberal: Are you assuming the light bulb’s identity? What if it identifies as a dishwasher?!?!?!
YOU BIGOT!!
If this is the effect of affluence, give me poverty. I have all my life fixed stuff, from the time I was on my own in my early twenties I had to do it myself because I could not afford a professional to do anything. Now, in my mid sixties I find I am not strong enough to do many things I used to do with ease, so I more often call my sons to help me. Thankfully they seem to know far more than I used to give them credit for, heh.
In another study 70+% of blacks don’t know who their daddy is that would have showed them how to do all this.
my guess it that 100% of liberals would wait for the gov to come and change their soiled nappies.
Australia requires an electrician to change a light bulb. It is not about safety. It is about control.
Amazing. This from the same country where many did not know a hamburger patty comes from chopping up a cow…. Now i know what my grandparents said on things like this – now im in their shoes… On the good side, somebody can make $20 to change a light bulb….
It’s easy to change a light bulb. One person to hold the light, two people to pick up and rotate the person holding the light bulb counter clockwise until the bulb is out, take new bulb put into socket and reverse the operation.
Bet the bunch that didn’t know how to change a lightbulb or boil an egg were liberals. Few of them know to come in out of the rain during a demonstration or protest.
Reminds me of a story my brother told me…. he was in charge of hiring some new people for maintenance at a factory. He set out a drill index, drill, taps & and a piece of steel and asked the candidate to drill & tap a 1/4×20 hole… He set out torches and asked the candidate to braze two pieces of steel, along with a basic stick arc welder, a sink/faucet and asked the candidate to change the rubber washers… Install a brass union on some tubing, basic things they would have to do for the job…. (which paid well) ….
Not one applicant could complete the task.
He said if you think about it less than 1% of people know how to drill/tap a hole…. I think he was right.
I’m surprised by the number who can’t read a map. It seems essential for travel or for something as mundane as finding your way around an amusement park or hiking trail.