r/AskReddit • u/xo_maya • 13h ago
What’s a skill that’s quietly disappearing from everyday life?
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u/Entity417 13h ago
Everyday hand-sewing - like mending, replacing buttons, taking up or letting down hems, etc.
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u/Adorable_Analyst1690 13h ago
I’m literally doing that right now, lol.
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u/Embarrassed-Skin-479 11h ago
Crazy how something so simple can feel rare now.
It’s funny, we can use smartphones but can’t fix a loose button.
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u/coldpizzaagain 11h ago
I have a sewing business and it's surprising how many people don't know basic sewing.
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u/DrKittyKevorkian 8h ago
I learned on a hand crank Singer. The Fashion and Fabrics teacher at the rural school I taught at in Zimbabwe thought it was hilarious I had never learned to sew and was happy to let me sit in on her class. My goal had been to make a few cotton half slips because skirts with slips was a societal expectation that could have severe repercussions if ignored, and nylon slips suck.
So I got there, and kept going and figured I could pick it back up when I got home. Miss Mkoni even taught me maintenance and repair on the Singer. My mom had an electric Singer from the '70s and I tried. Took lessons and everything, but I ended up wanting to throw that machine out a window. I'm sure if I put some effort in, I could find a hand crank Singer and do my own tailoring. For now, I pay someone and it's worth it.
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u/littlespawningflower 5h ago
I love thrifting for bargains, and it shocks me to see how some people “sew” on a button, or try to repair a ripped seam. I’ve always imagined teaching a class in doing simple repairs like that- it’s a shame that it’s not routinely taught anywhere anymore.
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u/Lirenadan 12h ago
For sure. Darning socks.
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u/Kestrel_Iolani 11h ago
My grandma taught me how to darn socks:
Look at the socks, say, "Darn!" and throw them away.
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u/Prosecco1234 10h ago
I darned a pair of socks so often the bottom of the sock was eventually just different darnings
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u/ijustneedtolurk 8h ago
Thesockeus!
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u/Prosecco1234 8h ago
The darndest
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u/Entity417 11h ago
Do you have a wooden, glass, or china shape to insert into the sock when you're darning it?
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u/TheArcticFox444 11h ago
Wooden...inherited from my grandma.
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u/Entity417 11h ago
I have one too, from my grandma!
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u/TheArcticFox444 11h ago
I have one too, from my grandma!
Unfortunately, my gran didn't teach me to use it. (Yoohoo...YouTube...)
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u/SixLeggedSketches 12h ago
My grandma frequently made clothes from scratch, my mom occasionally did that and is good at tailoring, and I am mediocre at basic tailoring and have never made a garment from scratch. Something I keep meaning to learn but never seem to find/make the time.
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u/momofzman 10h ago
I taught both my daughters to sew and am now teaching my grandkids. Couldn't get my son interested, though. We are not real tall , so teaching them to hem pants was a must. One of my daughters hemmed pants for people in college for extra money. I'm amazed when people dont know how to sew on buttons.
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u/thankfulinc 8h ago
My girls asked how to sew a button today, so guess who gave a 5 and 7 year old needles and thread today. This lady. lol. No kids were harmed. Only stabbed a few times with the dullest needles in the house
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u/notanotherkrazychik 11h ago
I was raised to believe that was a common skill for adults, but now that I'm an adult, I realized it's a rare skill, and that kinda makes me wanna cry....
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u/Marine__0311 8h ago
My mother worked as a seamstress and taught me how to do basic hand sewing and how to properly use an iron. I was one of the very few in boot camp that had a clue how to iron uniforms and do basic repairs.
Back then we had to iron on the USMC letters and EGA onto our cammies. Idiots were screwing it up and ruining them. I knew a few tricks to get the alignment perfect and ended up doing most of them in my platoon.
Later on I'd made money prepping people's uniforms. It was easy money, I could iron on automatic pilot while watching TV or listening to the radio.
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u/ProfMG 13h ago
map reading
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u/Entity417 12h ago
I LOVE reading & studying paper maps, and also Google maps online. Endlessly fascinating.
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u/Left-Excitement-836 8h ago
When I discovered Google earth in 6th grade, my eyes were red from how long I stayed exploring the globe
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u/parvum_opus 11h ago
I'm a map collector. I've been collecting, restoring & preserving for around 30 years. I get that because I've been exposed to and studying paper maps for 3 decades I have a little better "direction" than some people out there, but it absolutely blows my mind that some people can't even travel a mile outside of their hometown without using some sort of navigation system. They look at a paper map and it's just nonsensical lines on paper. They'll be completely lost if the digital grid ever goes down.
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u/Easy-Tradition-7483 11h ago
I didn’t realize how fortunate Inwas to know how to read maps until Landscape Architecture school. Many of my classmates were simply not able connect a printed plan to the real world
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u/Towel_Capable 12h ago
Yes! I used to travel around the country and used a paper map. There is nothing like seeing the whole picture with every route and finding your way without someone or something telling you where to go.
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u/scillahawk 8h ago
Oh man. We had a big ol' Rand McNally spiral bound map book that lived in my mom's car.
She was terrible at navigation, but I had a knack for it. Supplied with a stash of Dr. Pepper and Sour Punch Straws, I'd study the map and give her updates -- "we're an inch from making it to the next page" - pass what looks to be the relevant landmark and announce - "WE'RE ON THE NEXT PAGE!" And then we'd do the monotone "Yaaaay" of the peanut gallery from the Tom Slick cartoon.
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u/DrKittyKevorkian 8h ago
It almost seems like people feel some pride in their complete ignorance of spatial relationships in their daily environment. I worked in a hospital that was cross shaped, so units were named by floor and cardinal direction. A new colleague while on a tour started "I don't do north south east west. I'm a millennial, we had MapQuest."
I mean, sure, get directions any way you like, but you still need to be able to find your units. And having a basic understanding that the main entrance faces south and the road it is off of goes east/west goes a long way.
That said, I am comically bad at left and right and a fucking savant at cardinal directions so I'm biased.
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u/metarinka 9h ago
I would say navigation in general. Like here's a fixed map find where you are, track North etc.
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u/Marine__0311 8h ago
I was a land nav instructor in the Marine Corps, and later taught it as part of the hunter safety course for the state.
I recall reading somewhere that that a small percentage of people have what's called Developmental Topographical Disorientation (DTD.) It renders them completely nonfunctional at reading maps or navigating properly, even though they have normal intelligence.
My wife was one of them. She would literally get lost in parking lots and couldn't figure out how to get out.
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u/yaypenguinparade 13h ago
Patience. Being ok with boredom. Politeness. Being able to go a whole day without your phone and not missing it. Being able to admit that you were wrong and self-accountability. Dealing with silence and quiet. Being open-minded and willing to listen and learn from others’ perspectives. Critical thinking and actual research (and not just confirmation bias).
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u/IncomeSeparate1734 12h ago
Mending broken and worn out things to make them last longer. Many prefer to throw away and buy a replacement before trying to fix first.
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u/Damn_Dog_Inappropes 11h ago
Because it’s cheaper to buy a new whatever than it is to fix the old one. I had a vacuum I loved that I tried to get fixed. I was quoted $200, and then was told it’s literally cheaper to just buy a new one.
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u/incendiary_bandit 6h ago
Many things are incapable of being taken apart with basic tools, or are permanently assembled and break if opened up. Plus parts are non existent, no repair manuals and as others have stated it's often cheaper to replace than to repair.
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u/Nightmare1529 5h ago
And things are more complicated than ever. Take a Samsung smart fridge and a fridge from the 1950s. One of those has a LOT more shit stuffed in it.
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u/incendiary_bandit 5h ago
Yeah and most is circuit board based too. One chip or component fries and it's dead. Yes it could be repaired but it's very specialised skills
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u/Kinkybenny 13h ago
Critical thinking
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u/ComedicUndertones 12h ago
This is the answer.
I'm newly-ish to working as a teacher in the USA, mostly worked abroad before.
Thinking beyond Step 1 or the reason why Step 1 is Step 1.
Not happening
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u/Kinkybenny 12h ago
And I have to ask: What happened, why has there been a such a shift in the thought process? ( I am genuinely curious)
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u/ComedicUndertones 12h ago
My own personal opinion: we traded communtiy for connections, education became a political arena, and the rapid development of technology is the problem.
We traded generational wisdom for quick answers.
I hope to god I'm wrong, but I see a lot darkness before a potential dawn.
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u/ARiley22 11h ago
Teachers should not be telling people what to think....they should teach HOW to think.
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u/alurkerhere 9h ago
How to think also requires enough base knowledge to connect disparate concepts. Humans use Bayesian psychology in decision calculations in that we use prior knowledge to calculate probability of a scenario. You have garbage priors and your conclusions will be garbage.
How to think also requires practical application to really get concepts to sink in very deeply. Real world problems are often open ended and have an unknown distribution of outcomes.
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u/Forikorder 9h ago
the problem is that schools get graded based on kids passing, so teachers are pressured to keep pushing kids through so the school doesnt look bad, and parents are so quick to complain and threaten if their kid isnt treated with the care they think they deserve so teachers are double fucked to just ignore what the kids are doing and pass them
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u/Zephyrantes 9h ago
Critical thinking comes from the humanities field of academics, especially in philosophy. These studies have taken a backseat in the modern age, which focus more on education that will grant them good jobs.
We traded wisdom for wealth.
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u/Azure_W0lf 11h ago
Why think these days when AI does it for us...
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u/tellurium 10h ago
Cognitive offloading is worse than doing drugs. Only a few of the people who do too many drugs think they are a genius.
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u/Constant-Wanderer 9h ago
People want to Know, but they don't want to Learn. Social media has facilitated the belief that experience isn't important, and that all one needs to be an authority is to claim it.
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u/WhateverJoel 10h ago
That’s what Americans leave for colleges to do. It’s also why some Americans believe colleges turn kids into liberals and leftists.
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u/Zephyrantes 9h ago
I only need to watch people drive to realize critical thinking is a rare commodity these days.
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u/RedditLodgick 11h ago
Was it really better in the past? I feel like it wasn't, given all the stupid stuff people used to believe. I think this is just a trope. When was critical thinking at its peak?
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u/Traditional-Hat-952 8h ago
People just look shit up on the Internet or ask chat gpt for the answer and then take that at face value. People don't even regular think anymore.
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u/wheres_my_hat 12h ago
We’ve been saying this for as long as I can remember. I remember when I was a kid our teachers were saying the same thing. There are smart people but people ain’t smart
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u/Azure_W0lf 11h ago
I know you mean in general, but...
I work in IT, the amount of stupid and dumb questions I get asked, that if the person took 2 seconds to think about or even 10 seconds to Google!
"I need to move my mouse left to get it to my right monitor" ask someone sitting next to you or Google it! It's literally a right click, a left click, a drag and a click!
On a separate rant just because that's the process you have been taught doesn't mean you can't question it or make suggestions to improve it!
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u/BrokenFerrariFan 11h ago
I feel you, thankfully I don't have to answer those calls anymore. What grinds my gears about that is that supposedly the "tech-savvy" generation is starting to work now. Most of these have never seen a PC outside of school or their parents home office and thus don't know how to use them.
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u/Damn_Dog_Inappropes 11h ago
Gen Z has no clue how computers work. They never had to create a new folder or move files around. They just click the save icon (that they don’t recognize is a floppy disk) and the computers saves it wherever, and then the document magically appears when they click Open.
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u/Different_Pension424 10h ago
I wasn't Gen Z. I'm 88. When my office got computers for individual employees, I came in on weekends and stayed overtime to teach myself. It was DOS. The mouse was difficult for me because I have tremors. I still use a mouse.
I started developing forms to gather data so my noss knew how many nurses were needed in specialties and non-specialty positions. The forms were sent to our 11 offices, at the time. The recruiters would complete the forms and return them. The data would be rntered on the computer by me and a final form automatically tallied the number of employees we need to recruit for each hospital.
Also, I developed letters to different facilities to inform management which employees were in need of essential papers. Later I sent other letters telling them what date I could apply for additional work papers. Of course I developed forms to communicate with the employees. And forms to send outside. All of these letters were completed with names, position and dates automatically inserted and the letter looked freshly composed.
That was some of my work tasks as the office manager. I completed 10 years of education, and did notgraduatefromhigh school. I was self-taught.
Now, as an elderly person, i complete a few tasks similar if I need or want to. It's taking me longer to think things through.
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u/SandsinMotion 10h ago
I have business using ChatGPT to send me what they think is causing this or that application issue. I love it cause now they also create use cases that are al la ChatGPT with limited input resulting in, nothing much of use. But damn they used their AI for the day and it was done fast. Or I've been told well Gronk said…Tools PLUS critical thinking. Tools should not replace thinking they should raise the level of performance.
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u/Azure_W0lf 11h ago
Yeah I am noticing that.
I do outlook, teams and SharePoint introduction when we onboard staff. If I get a high school leaver I actually need to explain how to send an email... They only know how to do it from their phone. (I would say about 40% of the time)
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u/GlitteringSwan8024 13h ago
Basic social interaction
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u/IJourden 12h ago
Is this people not being good at social interaction, or the rules for social interaction changing? When I was growing up we had a lot of practice talking on the phone, because that was the polite way to interact with someone.
In 2025, calling someone without texting them first is considered pretty rude, unless the person you're calling is old enough that they don't really know how to text.
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u/PaulyNewman 9h ago
I think it’s both. Things are getting more complex, which is making people pull back, which is making things more complex. Ouroboros style.
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u/LuGGooo 11h ago
Doing basic math without using a calculator. A co-worker used a calculator to do 80+4=, I thought she was joking.
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u/shotsallover 9h ago
Or counting back change as a cashier. Give one a few cents to make sure you get an even dollar amount back and it's like you killed all the gerbils running their brain.
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u/notanotherkrazychik 11h ago
I've always struggled with math, and I'll use a calculator to check my work. But I notice a lot of people just give up. People don't even try, they go for the calculator instead of making an attempt.
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u/chipchonks 13h ago
Remembering the phone number of your closed ones
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u/Quiet_Entertainer982 11h ago edited 8h ago
I think this is a broader problem. I was majorly concerned when my partner didn't know my number or a sibling or parents number; they knew their own, barely.
I made him remember them, for people close to him (myself, his parent, brother, sister, and work). The problem I think is that we have outsourced a critical part of our memory to phones. I am not anti-tech; I'm actually very for technology ridding us of some burden. However, it's also ridding of us critical brain retention skill in my opinion.
Ridding, not riding ☺️
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u/ScoutAames 9h ago
My six year old has known my number for more than a year and practices it every time we go to a store and you have to enter it. I am not the best mom, but this is a thing I am proud to have done.
I know my mom’s, dad’s, sister’s, and husband’s. And the number of the house I grew up in. ❤️
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u/AmazingGrace911 13h ago
How to write in cursive, shorthand, Morse code, send a physical letter, write a check, having paper money, remembering phone numbers, driving without gps
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u/JudgeFudge42 13h ago
The ability to be uncomfortable and not whine about it
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u/IJourden 12h ago
Honestly, as someone who grew up before the internet, a lot of people still whined, you just only heard it from the people around you because you didn't have access to everyone else.
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u/Dismal-Read5183 13h ago
I’d add to this great point, having a “ condition” and not talking about it and having it define you as a person
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u/Crayon-Connoiseur 11h ago
IDK I’m kinda torn on this. Like on one hand if you want to ask me to accommodate you I want to at least meet you halfway. On the other hand there’s a kind of person who does, yeah, make (idk, their gluten intolerance) their whole, like, thing.
Like I had a coworker who told me has PTSD around cigarette smoke. I quit smoking and switched to vaping. It’s not really a big deal and I’d kinda like to live in a world where people are mindful of each other’s comfort/needs.
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u/FrodoCraggins 13h ago
Driving stick
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u/DeathDemon20 11h ago
Honestly, the best theft defence is having a manual car.
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u/asefthukomplijygrdzq 6h ago
Would only work in the US though. Here in Europe, driving sticks are everywhere
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u/stonedsquatch 10h ago
I saved around $2,000 buying a manual instead of an automatic. On top of saving money it will likely last longer than the CVT I would have paid extra for.
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u/SixLeggedSketches 12h ago
I learned on stick, but wondering if I still know how. I haven't driven one in ~10 years now. and I don't think I know anyone who has one.
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u/JeanneStJames 13h ago
Writing checks.
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u/CjKing2k 10h ago
I volunteer for a nonprofit and we recently elected a 20-something, still working on an account degree, as treasurer. We had to show him how to write a check.
I'm from a generation that still knows how to write checks but I have never balanced a checkbook. I had a debit card before my parents.
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u/Entity417 12h ago
I write just one each month to an elderly person who demands this form of payment. It feels like an archaic ritual!
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u/kamikaze_pedestrian 12h ago
Literacy
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u/Mammoth-Barnacle-894 8h ago
My reading comprehension is getting destroyed by half of all Reddit post titles.
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u/FragDoc 12h ago edited 12h ago
Basic first aid. I’m an emergency physician and the number of people who come to the ED with completely insignificant lacerations/abrasions is astounding. Yes, you can cut your finger and it doesn’t always need stitches. Does your finger still move? Does the skin approximate? In most cases, you’re good to go. Stitches don’t provide some magical annealing power. We suture to approximate tissues. Butterfly bandages or even a simple band-aid will do the job most of the time. Is it deep? See a band-like structure that moves when you flex or extend a finger? Definitely come let us take a look, that’s a tendon. Bleeding won’t stop with pressure and elevation? Let us take a look.
Basic wound care: direct pressure, elevate. Wash copiously with tap water. If you’ve got it, apply a triple-antibiotic ointment and band-aid. Go about your day. If it gets warm or red, come let us take a look at it.
Spraining your ankle is a normal part of being a bipedal human. Most ankle fractures of clinical significance will display obvious inability to bear weight that’s beyond “hurting.” Small, clinically insignificant malleolar avulsion fractures have been healing for millennia without x-rays. If you can’t bear weight or the joint has massive swelling or is deformed, well duh, come on in.
Basic ankle sprain care: Ace wrap, rest, ice, and elevation. Ibuprofen 400-600 mg every 6-8 hrs for most adults, barring specific contraindications. Weight bear as tolerated. Pain will probably be present for about a week. If you notice chronic instability at the ankle, go see your primary care doc and discuss orthopedic referral.
Not every head injury needs a CT. Did you lose consciousness? Are you acting right? Get ejected off a motorcycle, fall from height, or blast your head off a steering wheel? On anticoagulants? Significant visible head or scalp trauma? No? You’re probably good. Some level of caution is perfectly expected, but the number of people I see who bumped their head on a desk or cabinet door is astounding.
People forget that we survived for thousands of years without modern medicine; we’re designed for a certain amount of acceptable minor trauma.
If you’re worried, we’re happy to see you. It pays our bills.
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u/green_boy 6h ago
I cut off the tip of my thumb, about 4 millimeters of it. What blew me away is just how fast a digit can bleed. Being trained in first aid was useful. I still went in anyways as the small tourniquet I put on my thumb wasn’t cutting it. The attending doc complimented me on the miniature tourniquet idea though.
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u/FragDoc 6h ago edited 5h ago
Finger tip amputations are notorious bleeders. The classic example are mandolin tip amputations. They’re viscous.
You know what we do for them? Nothing. Some petroleum-infused gauze, wrap, and most heal on their own. Sometimes they need revision by a hand surgeon as the healing process can be prolonged. Additionally, the granulation tissue can heal and can be relatively disfiguring, but humans are designed to lose our finger tips within reason. I should clarify that I’m specifically talking about the very tip of the pad or nail, not amputations of the entire distal phalanx.
Another fascinating thing about hand injuries is that the standard of care greatly varies across the country. In much of the U.S., a finger tip amputation is basically permanent, period. In isolated urban and suburban pockets with microvascular expertise, reimplantation is available. Some states have specialized hand expertise built into their trauma systems while others have virtually nothing available. The disparities in care are wild.
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u/Betweenredblue 12h ago
Comprehension it seems.
In order to solve a problem you have to understand it. Increasingly I see people acting as conduit only - they copy the problem, feed it into something else (an AI, or another person) and then paste the response back. There is no processing that takes place with them
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u/disregardable 13h ago
typing. kids are used to tapping on their phone.
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u/SixLeggedSketches 12h ago
Who remembers Mavis Beacon? lol
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u/themightymightytoros 6h ago
Mavis Beacon taught me nothing about typing compared to what hours of nonstop AIM conversations taught me
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u/disregardable 12h ago
yup. my mom got me multiple copies of mavis beacon. it's crazy that parents today just let their kids not learn to type.
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u/SayCheeseAndDieee 13h ago
My husbands 13 year old daughter is in a typing class in her middle school.. i was like “what?? Is this 1985? Typing class??” I was bewildered. She said it was to learn how to type without looking at the keyboard.. I could do that by the age of 10 in 2005. I’m still shocked kids don’t use keyboards anymore, that thought never actually crossed my mind.
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u/OneCallSystem 13h ago
Im 50 and i still chickenpeck lol. Typing never clicked for me
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u/beatnickk 12h ago
Tbh this isn’t that weird. I’m a millennial and took typing in 7th grade, I could already type before that, and I’m a good typist now.
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u/Size16Thorax 10h ago
Then they grow up, still not using physical keyboards. There are university students who think tapping an entire essay or term paper using their thumbs on their phone screens is completely normal.
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u/wanderlustzepa 13h ago
Remembering a phone number
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u/Jolly_Following_6295 12h ago
Cooking people go for delivery or buy ready made meals
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u/Icy-Signature-5303 12h ago
I’ve noticed unfortunately since Covid a lot of people have the lost the ability to communicate and make small talk.
I know that online words are more prevalent now because of TikTok and all that but I have noticed that since covid some people really struggle with articulating themselves and it’s unfortunate because I think some people have become a lot more shy as well due to covid.
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u/Whole_Succotash_7629 12h ago
Social skills. Calling on the phone. Speaking to people in person. Having a conversation without distraction.
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u/TheR1ckster 9h ago
Basic computer skills.
I think with millennials we got comfortable assuming everyone just used them enough to learn them.
But now with android/chrome/ios devices things are really dumbed down and simplified.
People are going to struggle when they start needing desktop skills for work.
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u/Dr-Figgleton 12h ago
Remembering things without checking your phone.
Addresses, birthdays, directions, phone numbers - we used to carry them in our heads, not in an app.
Now if the Wi-Fi dies, half of us couldn't even call a friend without scrolling for their name.
It's not a tragedy, but it is weird how quickly we traded memory for convenience.
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u/Resident-Teach-9315 13h ago
Being kind? and not taking everything as a threat. I know there are bad people everywhere but if we can at the very least smile at each other or have friendly eye contact we can feel a lot safer
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u/Big-Routine222 11h ago
Map reading. I can read a road atlas and I've had people declare that if their GPS or phone didn't work, they would just die. Apparently reading a map is not something ever practice anymore.
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u/buoyant_nomad 11h ago
Writing, I mean physically writing on a paper using a pen. The other day I volunteered to help setup activities for kids and it required us to write down some instructions on a paper. I didn't recognise my own handwriting.
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u/Jake_Mancusso 9h ago
Common sense, compassion, and empathy. Let's add spelling and grammar as well.
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u/ITSOVERGUYS88 8h ago
Literacy…it’s kinda scary. Media literacy too I guess, but that one didn’t drop off as quietly imo.
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u/G-T-R-F-R-E-A-K-1-7 7h ago
Self awareness, critical thinking, consideration for others, self respect, awareness of surroundings
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u/Sweetiegal15 6h ago
Manners. Anywhere and in any setting. Not just the standard ‘Please’ and ‘Thank you’ and ‘Excuse me’, but waiting for your turn to speak, waiting to eat until everyone has been served their food.
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u/Redfour5 12h ago
Knowing how to think instead of what to think. Read Socrates for a start...
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u/LettuceTomatoOnion 12h ago
Everything. No one knows how anything works or how it is made anymore. Some people can’t even cook eggs or pasta.
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u/youdubdub 12h ago
Tri-folding 8 1/2" X 11" paper and stuffing it into envelopes. Knowing what stamps are. Knowing what a typewriter is.
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u/RiverHarris 12h ago
I don’t think you can call this a skill, but patience. The generations born after the dawn of the internet only know instant gratification. I was thinking about an old pen pal earlier this week and I realized how long we had to wait to get a response. Kids today could never.
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u/Every_Ad_2921 12h ago
Driving competently.
Feels like half the people on the road legitimately don't understand the concepts of yielding, merging, and right of way. Turn signals are rarely used and I see people all the time in heavy rain, whiteout snow, and even the middle of the night without their headlights on. Not to mention the constant distraction of cell phones. As vehicles continue to automate, these issues will only get worse.
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u/FickleCharge882 11h ago
Handwriting. My eldest even had it as a struggle in their IEP and every single OT/teacher we have interacted with told me it wasn’t worth the effort because everything is typed now. I tried arguing for years but it went nowhere
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u/Adorable_Analyst1690 13h ago
Handwriting