the whole "there are easier ways to do things so i never develop a skillset" is a big problem nowadays, imo. There are always easier ways to do stuff but in the long run they aren't the better way to do something because you wind up learning a system instead of how to do something.

i'll use my roommate as an example. Dude uses a knife sharpener system but can't actually sharpen a knife with a stone. The second his system doesn't work he can't actually sharpen a knife. All he knows is how to use the system. I see this in a lot of people nowadays. They know how to follow some instructions but the connections to why are never made.

As a society our basic skillsets are extremely atrophied because capitalism has turned everything into a pay-to-save-time system, or something.

It’s not a “nowadays” problem. People have always been like that. People probably stopped routinely learning how to ride horses once once cars started getting popular.