In today’s world, if a toaster stops working, the average person does three things. Step one, unplug it. Step two, sigh dramatically. Step three, open Amazon and order a new dual-slice digital unit with touch-screen controls, built-in Wi-Fi, and a subscription-based bagel setting. By Tuesday, the old toaster is sitting in a landfill, and the new one is taking up space on the counter until its circuit board glitches in 14 months, triggering the cycle all over again. Generation X views this process with a mix of horror and deep, instinctual judgment. Why? Because Gen Xers were raised in the Golden Era of "Figure It Out."

Growing up in the '70s and '80s, every Gen X household had a designated in-home repair shop. It was usually a garage, basement, or shed that smelled permanently of WD-40, lawnmower gasoline, and old sawdust. Inside sat a giant, beat-up toolbox, a pegboard with shadowy outlines around missing wrenches, and a repurposed mayonnaise jar filled with an assortment of completely mismatched screws, rusty nails, and bent washers. That jar was their hardware store.

When something broke—a lawnmower, a bicycle, a cassette deck, or the kitchen table—throwing it away wasn't an option. Calling a professional was a luxury reserved for rich people and movie characters. Instead, Dad would pop open a tab on a lukewarm beer, hand you a flashlight, and say those four fateful words: “Hold this right here.”

If a Gen X kid’s BMX bike chain popped off, you didn't ask for a new bike. You jammed your fingers into the greasy gears, dragged the chain back onto the sprocket, and kept riding until the street lights turned on. If the TV screen started flickering during The A-Team, you didn't call tech support. You delivered a swift, calculated open-palm smack to the side of the wooden cabinet and watched the picture magically snap back into focus.

Compare that to today. We have entered the dark age of disposable consumerism, where breaking a single plastic tab renders a $400 appliance completely useless. And it’s not entirely the new generation’s fault they don’t know how to fix things. 

Remember when a refrigerator was just a giant cold box that lasted 30+ years? Now, your fridge has a big LCD screen. When the software update fails or the ice maker stops working, the manufacturer tells you it's cheaper to buy a new fridge than replace the smart module. Same thing with a modern smartphone or laptop. They are glued shut with space-grade adhesive and fastened with proprietary pentalobe screws designed specifically to keep human hands out. If your screen cracks, you don't swap it; you upgrade to the newest model because you're six months away from your contract ending anyway. 

Or take a car for example. Popping the hood of an ‘85 Chevy meant seeing an engine block, a carburetor, and plenty of space to drop a wrench. Popping the hood of a 2026 vehicle reveals a giant plastic slab that looks like a server rack. You can't even change your own headlight bulb without removing the entire front bumper and resetting the onboard computer. Things these days just aren’t made to be fixed - even the manufacturer doesn’t want to fix them. They’re being designed to be thrown away because of the mindset new generations have.

Gen X possessed a natural curiosity about how the physical world worked. They took things apart just to see what made them tick—even if they ended up with three extra screws when they put them back together. Today, if a sink drips, people immediately search for a plumber on an app. A Gen X response? Crawl under the cabinet with an adjustable wrench, replace a 50-cent rubber washer, get a little dirty, and spend the rest of the day feeling like a mechanical genius who single-handedly defeated the forces of entropy.

So here’s to the last generation of DIY survivors. They may have knees that pop when they stand up, but if the world ever loses power and the Wi-Fi goes down, they’ll be out in the garage making the old stuff work again.

      - Maddy