Why are young people afraid of repair?

Hi! My name is Livia, I’m 15, and recently I did a study on young people’s perspective on repair, investigating general opinions, barriers, confidence and how to increase accessibility. 

I found most young people are aware of repair and of some of the benefits, where over 65% recognised the sustainable benefits, not only cost wise but environmentally. However, 50% believed they were closed off to repair as they were not good enough, where we as a society need to be able to give the confidence of repair, to the next generations. 

Overtime skills, information and lessons seem to have been lost, where repair is no longer the first option when something is damaged or broken. Instead, replacing items that aren’t even problematic, has become normal. Our current society encourages this, the brands most used create a new phone every 2 years, nothing is wildly different, so why do we buy it? Mostly because everyone else is. 

Where now everybody, not only young people, finds the idea of continually looking after something daunting, confusing and also boring. Repair seems to fit into a grey area, people know about it, they understand the positive effects, such as the sustainability and the cost effective nature, but it also still holds this unknown mystical quality, which is somehow unreachable to most. With the rise of STEM education, encouraging women especially to get into these roles, repair seems to be left behind in this movement. Where the 15 year old girls I surveyed suggested one of the main barriers is the judgement they think they would face, and how they would be perceived, not only by society but friends. 

How do we get more young people into repair? 50% admitted the main preventer to repair is a preconceived opinion about it as scary and overall something entirely new. Where the way in seems to be normalising the activity. Team Repair is playing a huge role in this, they are inspiring sparks of interest in children across the UK, working with schools and at home, showing children, repair is not gendered or unknown but something completely achievable for everybody. They are reintroducing the circular economy, teaching these vital skills in an approachable way and accelerating the change in society and legislation.

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