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 Reportwhich 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:
| 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 tyre | 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.
Maybe Britain should import more folks from Poland.. at least Poles can change light bulbs… 😉
LOL – One to hold the bulb, and two to turn the ladder!
(And I’m Polish in ancestry, BTW – and that joke was told to me when I was a child by my 100% non-Ashkenazi Polish Dad).
How many Aggies does it take to change a light bulb?
6
1 to hold the light bulb, 4 to pick up and turn the ladder, and 1 valedictorian to tell them which way to rotate the ladder.
How many Aggie programmers does it take to change a light bulb?
They can’t, it’s a hardware problem.
How many TEXAS A & M freshmen does it take to change a light bulb?
None, it’s a second year course.
MORE Brits feel comfortable putting up wallpaper than changing a lightbulb!!??
I think there is some kind of disconnect going on here… hanging wallpaper is a messy, critical-measurement type of activity. No possible reality could exist between folks who can do that and cannot change a lightbulb.
Question: Are they dumbing down the sheep in specific task-related skills through the gubermint skools and by chemical poisoning? As my Zionist friend Leonard Nimoy would say: “Fascinating, Captain!”
To which my other Leonard friend, Leonard McCoy would respond: “Dammit, Jim; I’m a wall paper hanger, not a light bulb changer!”.