The "New Helpless" World We Live in

I grew up in Finland knowing a term that directly translates to "New Helpless" in English. This term was used to describe a phenomenon that was reported to be on the rise in Generation X. New helplessness referred to young adults who were moving out on their own just to discover that they were completely ill-equipped for "adulting." They lacked basic life skills, such as cleaning, cooking, and self-care because of either excessive pampering by their parents or simple laziness to learn. In today's world, we can add a third group of "new helpless" young adults - those raised by "new helpless" parents and thus lacking a role model for learning life skills.

In my early teens, I heard a lot about the "new helpless" because my dad was a particularly harsh critic of these people he described as, "dummies whose parents did too much for them so they never learned anything and are now out there walking around with their thumbs in the middle of their palms."

My dad was particularly annoyed by the "new helpless" co-workers who seemingly used their inability to do anything or even figure things out as a clever tactic to avoid duties they didn't feel like doing. Their habits included never writing anything down so even after careful instruction on a new skill, they required hands on help multiple times before being able to complete a task on their own. He pittied the "new helpless" moms, who he saw buying boxed, processed foods to feed their kids because they never learned to cook and the men who came to work looking like a bag of potatoes because they had never cared to learn how to iron a shirt.

This "new helpless" behavior pattern has a major impact on people's health and it is one of the many factors that make people perceive healthy foods as expensive. When one is forced to eat out or buy ready made meals, healthy meals are more expensive than the dollar value menu. However, if one know as little as how to boil some water, they can make a multitude of healthy, cheap meals from oatmeal to beans. The problem is that once someone has reached the age of maturity, learning these skills requires the desire to learn and focused attention to making behavioral changes.

When I begin nutrition education with a new client, I often realize that the client doesn't just need nutrition and diet information. Often, they require hands-on assistance on everything from picking a ripe avocado to figuring out how one cleans a refrigerator.

Many people have a hard time using the three magic words for learning, "I don't know." By aknowledging that one doesn't know something, they become open to new information and learning. In this modern world of open, free information sources from the library to Youtube, none of us need to remain "new helpless." The key is searching for the necessary information, instead of another favorite sitcom to binge watch or trolling on social media.