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Gen Z may be missing out on learning these 5 old-school skills that boomers take for granted — are they valuable bits of vintage wisdom or relics of a bygone era?

Gen Z may be missing out on learning these 5 old-school skills that boomers take for granted — are they valuable bits of vintage wisdom or relics of a bygone era?
Gen Z may be missing out on learning these 5 old-school skills that boomers take for granted — are they valuable bits of vintage wisdom or relics of a bygone era?

You used to be able to tell a lot about a person by the cut of their gib, the pleat of their pants or the tidiness of their handwriting.

These days, with technology streamlining so much of our modern lives, there are fewer individual skills that one needs to get by. For example, when was the last time you balanced your checkbook?

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Digital natives — people who were born into a world where technology was already an integral part of daily life — are beginning to outnumber the older generations who were only introduced to tech in their later years.

And as automation continues to change more aspects of our homes and jobs, formerly essential manual skills like switchboard operation or being a human calculator have died out.

Sure, it’s in the name of progress, but even with positive change comes loss, and more than a few life skills society used to take for granted are falling by the wayside even now (That’s so sad. Alexa, play "Despacito").

But, while Gen Z has a lot of technical skills that they are now bringing to the workforce, they tend to come up short on "soft" skills that older generations may take for granted.

"Working remotely for so long, they don't have the same confidence that millennials and older generations have with public speaking and networking," Sam DeMase, a career-confidence coach, told Business Insider in December.

Here are a few other skills that should be kept on reserve in case of emergency, and some that can just go extinct.

1. Reading a map

Maps are large, fragile and frustratingly difficult to fold back up once they’ve been opened to their full size. It makes a lot of sense that few millennials know how to, or even want to use them these days.

In a survey commissioned by British mapping company Ordnance Survey, researchers found that only 20% of millennials wished they were better at reading maps.

They probably should be though, because 60% of millennial respondents say they are reliant on digital maps when going somewhere new, and a quarter are "very reliant" in their day-to-day lives.

Google Maps and Waze are important tools of 21st century navigation, but there are countless stories of GPS failing travelers, causing them to be stranded in desolate locations.

There’s also the question of what happens if your phone runs out of battery, or you can’t access online maps.

Reading a physical map can be a little intimidating, but it may be a worthwhile skill to learn and maintain for those in-case-of-emergency situations.

2. Driving a stick shift

Pretty soon, no one will understand the saying “that really grinds my gears.”

EPA data says that 35% of U.S. cars that were launched in the 1980 model year had manual transmissions. Forty years later, that number has dropped to about 1%.

Data collected by U.S. News and World Report says only 18% of American drivers say they know how to drive stick, and CarMax reports that 96% of Americans drive automatic in their daily lives.

The reasons for stick shifts falling out of favor seem reasonable. First off, the noise a dropped clutch makes is worse than nails on a chalkboard — if you’ve ever heard it, you’ll probably also remember how your stomach dropped at the sound.

Secondly, according to Drive Mag, a little under 20 years ago, the first dual-transmission production vehicle — a 2003 VW Golf — had its maiden voyage, combining the fuel efficiency of a manual with the ease of the automatic.

With electric cars outselling those with manual transmissions in 2019, according to The New York Times, manuals may soon go the way of the dodo — at least in the States.

3. Writing in cursive

It’s hard to get a bead on whether cursive writing is actually going extinct, or if op-ed writers just think it is.

Cursive writing has had an obstacle-filled history over the past few decades. Reuters reports that in 2010, U.S. schools were no longer required to teach it as part of the education system’s Common Core Standards.

Generally, though, it is up to the individual state to decide if it wants to keep cursive writing as a part of its curriculum, and many have chosen to do so.

There is good science behind their decision.

In an article published by the National Library of of Medicine, cursive writing (as opposed to block printing) helps diagnose spatial and graphical learning problems, and helps free up cognitive abilities so that the student can focus on other things, which is what psychology experts call automaticity.

It helps students develop motor skills, learn languages, and can stimulate what Johns Hopkins University calls “true learning” by reinforcing the lessons delivered in other mediums.

That said, the rise of email, digital note-taking and even e-signatures has limited the opportunities to ever show off your fancy penmanship.

Read more: Here's the average salary each generation says they need to feel 'financially healthy.' Gen Z requires a whopping $171K/year — but how do your own expectations compare?

4. Finding dates in person

You might not have realized it if you’re already partnered, but a large portion of heterosexual couples have found their person on an app, according to a 2019 study from Stanford.

According to sociologist Michael Rosenfeld, 39% of heterosexual couples found their significant other online, growing from 22% in 2009.

Beyond the fact that it’s a multi-billion dollar industry with an effective marketing reach, the initial stigma of meeting someone online has worn off, and people are trusting the technology behind the sites a lot more, says the study.

Another study, this one conducted by Pew Research Group, broke down the difference between different age groups, with 48% of people aged 18-29 saying that they had used a dating app to find someone, with the percentage decreasing for older demographics.

The study also noted that LGBTQ+ people had higher instances of using apps than people who identified as straight, who are roughly half as likely to use an app.

Dating is another area of life that technology is streamlining.

5. Balancing a checkbook

Since a lot of purchases and bill payments happen online these days, the frequency of someone writing a check to cover — well, anything — has sharply decreased, especially in the last decade.

The art of balancing a checkbook — that is, going through your own notes of what you paid out to compare it to your monthly bank statement — is also a thing of the past.

While you may not have a physical checkbook anymore, the logic of financial literacy behind this process is sound.

If you’ve ever shut your eyes to whisper a small prayer that your debit card would have enough funds to cover your purchase, maybe taking some time to look at your statements regularly isn’t such a bad idea.

It can help you spend your money more wisely, and it can help you notice any signs of fraud.

Unless you meant to buy thousands of dollars in gift cards. In that case, you do you.

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This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.