Ran into my old shop teacher at the hardware store and he said something that stuck with me

We were talking about the new guys coming in who only know how to run the machine from the screen, and he said 'You used to have to feel the cut, now you just watch the numbers.' It made me think about how much we rely on the machine to tell us everything now. Do you think we're losing some of the hands-on sense for the work?

3 comments

3 Comments

faith_thomas12d ago

Totally get what he means. I was helping my nephew with a model car kit last week. He kept trying to find a video tutorial for every single step, even gluing two basic pieces together. I told him to just try it, feel how the parts fit. He was scared to make a mistake without the screen telling him it was okay first. It's that same idea of needing a direct touch with the material.

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jamie_carter8711d ago

Oh man, next he'll need a video tutorial on how to watch the video tutorial.

mila_murphy2111d ago

Yeah, the "direct touch with the material" part is so true. But I don't think it's always about being scared. Sometimes you just don't know what you don't know. Like, I tried to fix a wobbly chair once. I thought I just needed to tighten a screw. Watching a quick video showed me there was a whole bracket system I couldn't see. It saved the chair. Some stuff really does need that visual guide first.