S/O s/o What life skills did you think were important

[hisno1girl]

but are no longer necessary?

1. Program a VCR.
2. Format a disk.

[girlfriday11]

Dewey decimal system. Not really a "life skill," but it's what popped in my head.

[cville]

Dialing a rotary phone.
Lighting a gas stove with a match.
Being kind and rewinding.

Eta: send a fax.

[stephm0188]

Blowing into a Nintendo cartridge to get it to work.

[Captain Serious]

Telling time on a watch with hands

[rugbywife]

Mar 8, 2014 21:21:13 GMT -5 stephm0188 said:

Blowing into a Nintendo cartridge to get it to work.

omg, today at the bank (of all places) DHs bank card wouldn't work, and the teller blew into the slot.  We both looked at each other and made nintendo comments. I think the teller was too young to 'get it'. lol.

[kaybee85]

Properly timing recording songs from the radio on your tape player.

[rugbywife]

cursive writing (I know, I know, hot topic)...

[cville]

Mar 8, 2014 21:21:36 GMT -5 Captain Serious said:

Telling time on a watch with hands

This is still necessary, imo. I judge any adult who can't.

[fangoriagurkel]

Not necessarily a skill, but know how to use a rotary phone. My Gram has one in her bedroom but I doubt I'll use another one.

[underwaterrhymes]

Knowing the number to call for weather.

[stephm0188]

Along the lines of rotary phones...
Knowing how to use a party line.

[hisno1girl]

I used to think all kids should learn to play games on paper like Tic Tac Toe and Hangman and I think those days are gone now.

[Captain Serious]

Mar 8, 2014 21:23:27 GMT -5 cville said:

Mar 8, 2014 21:21:36 GMT -5 Captain Serious said:

Telling time on a watch with hands

This is still necessary, imo. I judge any adult who can't.

I agree it's something most adults should be able to do, but a person could get through life without it.  I guess I'm using a slightly stricter definition of "necessary" than you.

[Deleted]

Changing or cleaning the needle on the record player.

[hisno1girl]

Mar 8, 2014 21:24:37 GMT -5 underwaterrhymes said:

Knowing the number to call for weather.

...or the number for the time.

Oh, and reading a map.

[underwaterrhymes]

Oooh, and changing the roll of paper in a dot matrix printer.

[stephm0188]

Mar 8, 2014 21:26:08 GMT -5 hisno1girl said:

I used to think all kids should learn to play games on paper like Tic Tac Toe and Hangman and I think those days are gone now.

They don't even pass notes in class or the halls anymore, do they? I wasted a lot of time writing notes to friends and folding them into intricate shapes.

[Captain Serious]

Calling collect.

Or calling the number from a pay phone to make it ring back. Although that was never really necessary, just a fun trick.

[hisno1girl]

Mar 8, 2014 21:20:08 GMT -5 cville said:

Dialing a rotary phone.
Lighting a gas stove with a match.
Being kind and rewinding.

Eta: send a fax.

OMG YES to sending a fax.  I could not believe the number of people that simply couldn't master this skill.

Of course, I don't know how to use the fax machine at work because I've been here almost a year and I've only sent one fax the entire time.

[hisno1girl]

Making a Slam Book!!

[snickers]

Multiplication.


See, my teachers should have just let me have those pencils with the multiplcation table on them!

[wysiwyg]

Knowing how to program the remote
Knowing how to use a TV guide
Knowing how to sew whole sets of clothes
Cursive writing

[rugbywife]

Mar 8, 2014 21:27:03 GMT -5 underwaterrhymes said:

Oooh, and changing the roll of paper in a dot matrix printer.

Or how to make little 'accordion caterpillars' out of the left over paper bits…please tell me I am not the only person who did this.

[rugbywife]

Mar 8, 2014 21:31:38 GMT -5 hisno1girl said:

Making a Slam Book!!

I still have one from HS.  I can't believe I have kept it this long.

[hisno1girl]

Folding the wrappers from Juicy Fruit gum into those zig zag type paper chains.

[cville]

Mar 8, 2014 21:32:15 GMT -5 wysiwyg said:

Knowing how to program the remote
Knowing how to use a TV guide
Knowing how to sew whole sets of clothes
Cursive writing

I got 30 minutes of tv a day as a kid. I would spend hours with the tv guide each Sunday picking my shows for the week. Apparently that was also my brother's main motivation for learning to read since he figured out that I didn't tell him about any shows I thought were lame.

[ZoeHart]

Mar 8, 2014 21:32:15 GMT -5 rugbywife said:

Mar 8, 2014 21:27:03 GMT -5 underwaterrhymes said:

Oooh, and changing the roll of paper in a dot matrix printer.

Or how to make little 'accordion caterpillars' out of the left over paper bits…please tell me I am not the only person who did this.

I still do this when I get stuff in the mail you have to open by ripping all the edges off.

[hisno1girl]

Mar 8, 2014 21:36:03 GMT -5 carrotsmakemefat said:

MATH!!!!


Also, carrying change for a pay phone

I had dimes in my penny loafers just in case I needed to make a call.

[underwaterrhymes]

Mar 8, 2014 21:32:15 GMT -5 rugbywife said:

Mar 8, 2014 21:27:03 GMT -5 underwaterrhymes said:

Oooh, and changing the roll of paper in a dot matrix printer.

Or how to make little 'accordion caterpillars' out of the left over paper bits…please tell me I am not the only person who did this.

YESS!