How to be bored — and 4 more real-world skills you can give your kids



Recent research appears to confirm what many older people have been noticing for years: Younger generations are falling behind on cognitive skills. Measured IQs are dropping, and abilities like verbal fluency and nonverbal reasoning are declining as well.

If we’re going to reverse this decline in the young, parents and older adults are going to have to do what you might call “re-parenting.” We’re going to have to teach young people some basic skills.

Thank God for Mrs. McGonnigle. She sat with me during lunch for an entire week doing flash cards until I had my times tables burned into my brain.

These are skills that we largely seem to have absorbed by osmosis in our youths. For a number of reasons, these younger generations haven't.

Digital deprivation

It’s not that kids are being born with fewer “hard-wired” smarts than before; it’s not that raw intelligence at birth is declining. Instead, it looks environmental, and the biggest culprit appears to be the “the rapid integration of digital technology into education.”

Bioinformatics researcher Shibasis Rath does a good job of putting complicated studies into plain English in his article “Is Gen Z the first generation less intelligent than their parents?”

The research in both Europe and the U.S. finds that younger generations show noticeable declines in their ability to reason abstractly, to solve novel problems on their own, and to engage in numerical/mathematical reasoning.

As Rath writes:

A large analysis of nearly 400,000 American adults tested between 2006 and 2018 found declines in verbal reasoning, numerical reasoning, and matrix reasoning — key markers of fluid intelligence, or the ability to solve novel problems. Spatial reasoning showed modest improvement, but overall composite scores fell, with the sharpest declines among young adults aged 18 to 22.

What does the research suggest is the biggest culprit? Anyone who has watched a smartphone generation struggle with basic tasks will not be surprised.

Those interested in digging into the data can read some pertinent studies here and also here. To summarize, research on intelligence, measured by IQ and other tests, used to find a consistent upward trend over time. This is called the “Flynn Effect.”

From the 1930s to about 2000, researchers found IQs and mental skills rising in each subsequent generation. But then it flattened out. Worse, though, the curve started to decline around 2010; this was just a few years after the introduction of the smartphone.

Many people remarked that giving young people phones that let them outsource their thinking to a machine would lead nowhere good. But the pushback was, and is, loud and boisterous. Those who made such warnings were called “Luddites” and “Boomers.”

Math muddle

Well, it did happen. Think about how you’ve noticed that younger people are confused about how to deal with cash at stores. If they key in the wrong amount, they don’t know how to make change. This means they can’t do the simple arithmetic in their heads that people my age (51) and thereabouts do automatically. They don’t even know how to do simple subtraction on paper, because schools teach “new math.”

If you want to go down a nightmare rabbit hole of what public school math instruction looks like, start here.

This problem with math is mirrored in the ways reading is taught today, like using the discredited “whole language” approach instead of phonics. The series “Sold a Story” tells the tale in a compelling way.

If you still don’t believe today’s young people are floundering and adrift without basic skills, check out this demonstration from a college classroom. Before you watch this short video, understand that it’s not from a bottom-tier community college. These are Duke University students who have no idea which direction is north and who struggle, and fail, to read a simple road map.

The professor in that video is fighting the good fight with humor as he tries to skill-up his college students with the kind of knowledge older generations had by third or fourth grade. But he can’t do it alone. Teachers can’t do it alone, because the problem doesn’t start at school — it starts at home.

Phoning it in

It starts with parental mistakes. Not malice, not abuse, just honest mistakes. This is hard for parents to hear. Heck, it’s hard in 2026 for anyone to hear that they made a mistake or made the wrong choice. But we have to face the truth if we’re going to do better by our kids.

The first and biggest mistake was giving children smartphones at all. And no, they don’t “need” them. If a child needs to be able to call his parents wherever he is, a flip phone will do that without the collateral damage of instant access to violence and pornography right in Johnny’s pocket.

But it’s not just the obscene and damaging internet content that’s the problem. It’s deeper. When Johnny has a GPS system, a calculator, an AI “write my email” program in his hands, he’s going to use them instead of his brain.

So what are we to do? It’s time to be “old-fashioned” again. Wise parents will put their youngsters back in time and take away the digital crutches that have stunted their growth.

1. How to be bored

Take that smartphone away. No child 16 or under should have a smartphone. If you’re not willing to do this, close this tab and stop reading, because you’ve already decided you’re not going to help your kid grow. Yes, other kids, and other parents, will point out to your kid that “you’re the only one who doesn’t have one.” This is an excellent opportunity to impart that timeless parental wisdom: "If every kid jumped off a bridge ..."

For Gen X kids, boredom was the training ground of childhood — the quiet stretch of time that forced you to invent games, pick up a book, wander outside, or simply learn how to be alone with your own thoughts.

2. How to read a map

Buy your child a map of your city, and then expand to an atlas of your state. Sit down and show your kid how to read the map’s instructions (the legend that explains symbols), and plot out the route from your house to your kid’s school. Then have your child plot a route from his school to whatever his favorite destination in town might be. This has to be done by hand, writing down steps by hand, on real paper. Yes, it matters. No, typing doesn’t form the same neural connections. Then keep going to more complicated routes.

3. How to memorize math facts with flash cards

Does your daughter struggle with math? Does she have a hard time with arithmetic? It’s time for flash cards.

In third grade, I was the only kid in class who struggled to memorize his multiplication tables. Thank God for Mrs. McGonnigle. She sat with me during lunch for an entire week doing flash cards until I had my times tables burned into my brain. This kind of rote memorization is the nonnegotiable, must-have building block for moving on to long division, algebra, and more.

4. How to get places without a chauffeur

This one’s easy, and it will save you time: Stop driving your kid to school and everywhere else he wants to go. If school is a mile away, he can walk. I did, and most of you reading did too.

No, it’s not true that it’s “mostly too dangerous in these modern times.” That’s only true in some areas, but even parents in safe neighborhoods have fallen prey to hysteria; they won’t even let their kids ride bikes until sunset. Reverse that.

5. How to cook

Teach them basic cooking.

Not by directing them to a website with GPS-style “turn-by-turn” steps and directions — by showing them and getting them to put their hands on the mixing bowl and the stove along with you. You don’t need detailed recipes to teach basic cooking like pasta, grilled sandwiches, meat loaf, and other home staples.

Gen Z thinks DoorDash is “how food happens.” Teaching them kitchen skills will give them better physical health, it will save them money, and it will show them how much more affordable (and tasty) food can be. If you need a reference cookbook, I recommend the "Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook" (a 1980s version if you can find it). The book explains basic techniques in food preparation that make sense and all fit together.

RELATED: Cooking is easy; it's our modern anxiety that makes it hard

The Print Collector/Getty Images

Parents: I know it’s not easy. You’re swimming against a huge cultural and commercial tide that wants to swallow your kids’ minds and money. Tech companies don’t want to improve your kids’ quality of life — they want them dumbed down and dependent, and they’re doing a very fine job. Only you can stop this.

It will be lonely for a lot of you. Other parents will think you’re that kooky, crunchy mom or the too-strict dad. All your kids’ friends will poke fun if your daughter doesn’t have an iPhone. Yes, I’m afraid those things will happen.

But so what? You can handle this. Yes, you can. You know you can, because you know that you did when you were growing up.

You can turn this into a lesson for your children too. Model good responses for them. Be confident in how you let silly jabs roll off your back. Explain that there’s value and confidence in knowing how to help yourself. Yeah, your kids will roll their eyes a few times. But in 10 or 15 years, they’ll say, “Thanks, Mom and Dad.”

Make your own record player: A simple project with a profound lesson



We live in a scaled-up, real-world version of the classic children’s board game “Mousetrap.” The built world is over-engineered, too interdependent, and so precarious that a slight disturbance might bring the whole thing down.

The interconnected, precarious Rube Goldberg contraption that is modern society has more than just rolling balls and baskets and levers. Our real, physical-world interdependencies include reliance on digital algorithms and computing devices that no one can intuitively understand. It’s the worst of both worlds, physical and electronic.

This is a real-world lesson in physics and mechanics that teaches universal principles that can never be altered by whim or historical vogue.

A friend’s internet service went out recently. Even though she was able to get a human staff member on the phone, that human wouldn’t talk to her to even confirm that the company recognized that she was a paying customer.

Why? Because she couldn’t log in to her email on another device and recite a “one-time code.” Remember, she was calling because she didn’t have internet access. Cell signals in rural states are often insufficient for internet use. You see the problem.

Everything is like this, but everyone is acting like this is the way things have always been. It’s not true. There is no reason to live this way. It is not a natural law. The overcomplicated world is not something that just “happened.”

This setup is a result of choices. Disconnected choices, yes. There’s no central mind that has created our society. There’s no single controlling cabal that has engineered the way we live, communicate, procure food, or any of that. There are powerful interests, legal and commercial, that influence our society more than you and I as individuals can influence it. But it’s not a conspiracy in the classic sense. It’s a result of accumulated errors. We need a reset.

Memories of the analog world

1979. My family slipped away from Tully, New York, in the dead of night by means of my grandmother’s silver Buick Electra. The Buick told you that she had a V-8 through the distinctive muffled bass rumble from twin tailpipes. She was what I call an “honest mechanical.”

We boarded the Amtrak to cross the country so my stepfather, a glassblower who specialized in making electrodes, could find a job. There was nothing left for a working-class man in Upstate New York in the 1970s.

On arrival in Los Angeles, my Uncle Lee and Aunt Sherry were waiting in a 1979 lemon-yellow Cadillac Coupe de Ville. A Cadillac. I was going to ride in a Cadillac!

The trunk mechanism on my Uncle Lee’s Cadillac was my first introduction to what I would later think of as overcomplicated or dishonest mechanicals. It did this amazing thing I had never seen before. The trunk lid raised and lowered all by itself, untouched by human hands. After my mother loaded the last suitcase into the cavernous trunk, the enormous yellow deck lid silently, slowly crept downward. When the lid reached the latch, the mechanism slowed down to a crawl to give you a “soft and silent” latch.

Today, my base-model Toyota has all those bells and whistles plus more. The “more” is the irritating part. Nothing in the car is controlled mechanically or directly. Everything is drive-by-wire. The car decides when to spin the wheels when stuck in snow, even though I could do a better job if I were allowed to control the traction. Even the heater fan and lights are programmed to slowly, softly ramp up and ramp down, as if a too-sudden onset of sound or light would strike the driver with apoplexy.

Man and machine

The legend of John Henry both horrified and fascinated me as a child. The steel-driving man of folklore tried to prove he was as good as the new-fangled steam drill at chipping out a tunnel to lay track. John Henry swung his sledgehammer until his muscle fibers broke and he died exhausted on the ground, while the steam piston kept reciprocating.

I understood that this tale from America's railroad age was really about our present. It was obvious to me even as a kid in the 80s: Machines were crowding out the men. The mechanization of work inverted our values; humans had to live up to the demands and preferences of machine logic, not the other way around.

John Henry’s last act was a way of saying, “I am a man, and I live.”

RELATED: America needs mechanics; here's where to apply

Getty Images/Heritage Images

Honest mechanicals

Honest mechanicals are machines that can be observed, understood, and intuited. They show their works; nothing is hidden from the hands or the eyes. Compare honest mechanicals to modern digital devices. Call those devices “black boxes” whose function cannot be observed, understood, intuited, or reverse-engineered by human senses alone.

Black boxes (computers of various sorts) are not mechanicals at all. They don’t have levers or pulleys or counterweights, or sprockets, or escapements. They have invisible states of magnetic orientation. You cannot see the works with your eyes, and the complexity of a chipset is beyond the human mind’s ability to grasp.

A piece of photographic film with a light-sensitive emulsion that forms an image is an honest mechanical. The image is readable by the human eye.

A .jpg picture file is a black box. The image cannot be read or intuited by humans without another black box we call a computer.

A steam locomotive is an honest mechanical. Observe that you can understand how the machine turns heat into steam, turns steam pressure into lateral force, and then translates lateral force into rotary motion, thus moving the train and its passengers along.

You can intuit an honest mechanical. And if you have children, especially boys, I recommend that you introduce them to honest mechanicals. Show them how steam engines work. Show them a cutaway of an internal-combustion automobile engine. Let them take apart a blender or a stand mixer to see how electric motors produce rotary motion.

Here’s an easy hands-on lesson you can and should do with your kids, starting at about age 4. It doesn’t matter that the lesson uses “obsolete” technology. That is a benefit. This is a real-world lesson in physics and mechanics that teaches universal principles that can never be altered by whim or historical vogue.

Make your own record player

Materials:

  • 1 33 and 1/3 long-playing record album — one that’s scratched that you don’t care about
  • 1 #2 pencil
  • construction paper
  • Scotch tape
  • 1 sewing needle

Instructions:

Form the construction paper into a cone and tape together. Tape the sewing needle securely to the small end of the cone. Think of an old gramophone with a needle attached to a brass horn — that’s what you’re doing.

Put the pencil inside the center hole of the record. Spin the record like a toy top, and help your kid lower the needle-in-a-cone onto the guide groove at the edge of the record.

Magically, you’ll hear the sound on the record, slightly amplified by the paper cone. Sure, it’ll be at the wrong speed, and maybe you won’t be able to parse the words. But you and your kid will immediately understand basic sound recording and reproduction. You will understand that sound can be transcribed as a wave form that can take real-world, physical form in the bumps and pits of a piece of material.

Most importantly, your child will understand that the material world actually exists and that it is analog.

This matters. It matters more than you probably know. Modern young people have grown up in a world of portable computers and phone screens that appear to show them reality, but that do nothing but arrange points of light into virtual simulations. Have you noticed that young Millennials and younger seem not only put off and frightened by simple mechanical technology — mechanical telephones, cars that use a clutch and a gear shift — but almost disgusted and embarrassed by devices from just a generation ago?

This is not merely the universal plaint of the old about the shortcomings of the young. The world today is different to an extreme degree from the world of just one or two generations ago. Young people don’t know how to get around town without GPS, they’re frightened to get driver’s licenses at 16, and few can even whip up a basic meal on a stovetop. Why would they know these things when they’ve been reared to believe that food and transportation just “happen” by sliding your fingers along an iPhone touchscreen?

Do what you can to ground yourself (first) and your kids and grandkids back inside the real, physical, material, analog world. Remember what John Henry knew: We are men and women, and we live.

Spam texts are surging. Here's how to stop them on your phone.



Spam texts are on the rise, mucking up your phone with group chats filled with people you don’t know and who didn’t ask to be lumped together for some nefarious reason. While these texts might seem like a simple nuisance, they can ultimately lead to more spam, phishing attempts, or worse. Just like with spam calls, though, there’s an easy way to silence spam text alerts and block messages from your phone.

Spam texts are on the rise

If you’ve received more spam text messages lately, you’re not alone. Consumer Reports confirmed that text-based scam attempts have risen by 50% as of 2025. Part of this is due to the broad-scale availability of RCS, a fairly new texting standard that replaced the antiquated SMS on both Android and iPhone. Although RCS is generally more private and secure than SMS, the new service makes it easier for scammers to send media attachments designed to get you to click through to a spam website where they can steal your private information.

What to do if you receive a spam text

If you receive a spam text, do not respond! Don’t ask why you’re in the group chat, don’t demand the head of the person who added you, don’t talk to anyone else that asks the same things, and for the sake of your future sanity, don’t click on any shared links. Doing any of these actions simply confirms to the sender that your phone number is valid, and you will be added to other spam lists for future scam calls and text messages. It’s better for spammers to think your number is inactive than to let them know that you are a viable target. Instead, here’s what you should do the next time you receive a spam text message.

How to block spam texts on iPhone

On iPhone, open up the Settings app. Scroll down to the very bottom of the page and tap “Apps.” From there, scroll to the center of your app list and tap into “Messages.” Scroll halfway down the page again and find the section titled “Unknown Senders.”

From here, you’ll want to enable “Screen Unknown Senders.” This will automatically flag any text messages you receive from unknown numbers and move them to a separate list within your Messages app. Next, check the “Time Sensitive” toggle. This will allow alerts, two-factor verification codes, and urgent texts to still come through so you won’t miss anything important that’s non-spam related. Finally, check the “Filter Spam” option to hide spam notifications and move these unwanted messages to a separate list in the Messages app. With these features enabled, you won’t be alerted when a spam text comes in, but you’ll still get the chance to review the message and decide if it’s actually spam.

Screenshots by Zach Laidlaw

TIP: Keep in mind that these settings are available on iPhones running iOS 26. You may not see these options, or they may be slightly different, if you’re on an earlier version of iOS.

If you want to view your quarantined spam texts, open the Messages app on your iPhone. Tap the filter menu in the top right corner. Click on either “Unknown Senders” or “Spam,” depending on which you want to view. From here, you can either read the messages for fun, remove them from the spam list if they’re not actually spam, or delete them entirely. Whatever you do, though, don’t reply.

How to block spam texts on Android

For Android, we’re specifically looking at the spam blocking features built directly into the Google Messages app. If you’re using a different messages app, these features may differ or may not even be available. For what it’s worth, Google Messages is the best native SMS and RCS app on Android, thanks to its simplicity, security, and broad support. I strongly recommend switching to Google Messages if you haven’t already.

To get started, open the Google Messages app on your Android phone. Tap on your profile picture in the top right corner, followed by “Messages Settings.” Near the bottom of the page, select “Protection & Safety.” Finally, toggle “Spam Protection” into the on position. Once enabled, Android will automatically scan and filter your spam text messages into the spam section in your messages app.

Screenshots by Zach Laidlaw

WARNING: Although most of Android’s spam detection features happen directly on the device, Google admits that “spam information is sent to Google anonymously to improve spam and abuse protection.” This information can include the phone numbers of unknown senders who aren’t in your contacts list. Google maintains that your name and phone number are not shared with Google and that your identity remains anonymous.

Reclaim your messages app

Spam text messages are annoying, but thanks to these features built directly into iOS and Android, it’s easier than ever to make them disappear. Toggle a few quick settings and reclaim the peace of a quiet messages app where only the people you want to talk to can actually reach you.

Cooking is easy; it's our modern anxiety that makes it hard



Millions of modern Westerners are chained up in self-imposed terrors that prevent them from living in the real world. We’re terrified of “expired” food. We consult the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's website while we peer at our digital meat thermometers to make sure we hit the government-approved specific temperature that reassures us that we won’t kill our families.

You can just cook things. Do you know that? Really. You can do the same things, with the same basic tools, that humans have been doing for countless tens of thousands of years before programmable stoves, digital scales, and tenth-of-a-degree meat thermometers came along. The only thing stopping you is unnecessary fear.

There is no reason to be reliant on complicated devices and prissy little scales in order to make bread. How do you think Laura Ingalls managed it?

It’s not just cooking that’s fallen prey to modern hysteria either. Alleged adults in the 2020s are skittish about checking the oil in their car or topping up the antifreeze (if they even think it’s “safe” to do without professional supervision).

Food for thought

But I can only focus on one thing in this piece, and that’s going to be food. Between the time I was a kid learning to cook in the '80s and today, adult Americans have retreated into a mental padded cell where they quake with overblown fears about food technique and food safety.

I come from the Before Times, a land where children walked a mile each way to school, a land where kids could ride their bikes anywhere in town as long as they were home by dark. Now we have a new traffic jam at 3 p.m. around public schools. It’s not normal. It’s also not sane, necessary, or proportionate. Today only one in 10 children walk to school. Read that again. If that sounds normal, you’re the person I’m writing for.

I was taught to use a stove for simple meals by the time I was 8. Today? Fourteen-year-olds on average have never even made a box of macaroni and cheese on the stove top. A few years later, they become 25-year-olds who complain about the cost of eating because they think — yes, really — that DoorDash is the normal way to get supper.

I'm with soup-id

I knew something was happening to adult minds back in 1991 in the staff room of Perkins Family Restaurant in Camillus, New York. It was 2 p.m., and I was struggling to stay awake for an all-hands meeting on food safety (I worked the overnight shift).

District manager Phil was telling us about the dangers of poultry and salmonella. You have to know there was no raw poultry in the kitchen of this restaurant ever. Every chicken product we served had been pre-cooked, which means that any salmonella had already been killed. We merely reheated plastic-bagged refrigerated food from a factory.

Phil opened a bag of fully cooked chicken and dumpling soup and poured it into the steam table. Whipping out a thermometer, he stuck it into the next pot, which already had the same soup brought to serving temperature.

“This pot is not hot enough, and if we don’t keep it up to temperature, we risk giving our guests salmonella poisoning,” he said.

I bit my hand to stop myself from responding.

In case you don’t know why this is wrong: Once poultry has been fully cooked, all salmonella gets killed. It does not “regenerate” if the temperature falls. Sure, other microbes might get a foothold, but this guy really did believe that letting chicken cool off a few degrees would magically re-salmonellize it. I wonder if he believed the old tale about how raw meat spontaneously generates flies.

RELATED: How I stopped hating guns — and embraced self-reliance

Angus Mordant/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The d'oy of cooking

As a longtime home cook, I’ve watched cookery become hystericized over the past four decades. As fewer parents cooked themselves, and as even fewer of them taught their children, I watched recipes get dumbed down. What would have taken a paragraph to explain to a person in 1985 now required 15 numbered steps: “Pour water into clear container. Bending down, use your eye to see if it hits the line that says ‘one cup.’ Then carefully pick up the cup, and tilt it so that the water falls out into the bowl. This is called ‘pouring.’”

I only slightly exaggerate. About 15 years ago, I looked up a recipe for chicken paprikash and made the mistake of reading the comments. This is a pretty accurate reconstruction:

“I made this recipe exactly as the author described, but she never told me that there were BONES in the chicken. I was appalled! I actually served my family chicken with bones inside it, and I was so embarrassed. My kids wouldn’t eat it. You should WARN PEOPLE.”

No, I don’t think this commenter was a troll. I’ve seen enough in real life to know there are millions of Americans walking around so disconnected from basic household tasks that they literally do not know that meat always comes with bones and that bones are normal.

Getting medieval

Last week, I got inspired to start baking again. That inspiration came from a YouTube channel I recommend called "Medieval Way." The British guy behind it takes you through the simple, manual, methods of raising bread, stewing meat, and preserving foods that people did from muscle memory and common sense. And wouldn’t you know, their foodways (which were the foodways for all of us for thousands of years before the late 19th century) produce more nutritious meals than most of us eat today.

It’s a myth, and a damned scurrilous one, that a noticeable number of people died all the time in “the old days” from food poisoning because they didn’t have refrigerators or meat thermometers or the CDC. Pardon my frankness, but all humans who lived before us weren’t stupid.

I decided I was going to resume sourdough baking from natural leaven, no commercial yeast. But I also decided I wasn’t going to buy any special equipment like scales or filtered water or any of that. And I wasn’t going to measure anything.

I want to master my craft with my hands and heart and eyes. There is no reason to be reliant on complicated devices and prissy little scales in order to make bread. How do you think Laura Ingalls managed it? She learned how dough felt in the hand and gauged proper hydration and texture through feel and experience. I can too. So can you.

Maybe my project will inspire you. Here’s what I did. Don’t expect precise measurements or special tips: Get in there with your hands and learn it yourself.

For the starter

  • Stoneground organic whole rye flour. I’m not a hippie leftist; it’s just true that stone-ground flours without pesticides are nutritionally superior and give better results for this. Rye works faster than white flour.
  • Water. I’m lucky enough to live on clean well water without chlorine. If you have city water, pour out a jug and set it on the counter to let the chlorine evaporate. That chemical will inhibit the bacteria and yeast you want to grow.

I put some flour in a bowl. Then I put some water in. Then I stirred it. Then I set it on the counter under a towel. Every day, I dumped half out and added back water and flour to give the nascent yeast new starch to grow on.

After a week, I wasn’t seeing much. I was on the verge of throwing it out and starting again when I lifted the towel and saw this:

Josh Slocum

That’s a thriving, frothing stew of natural yeast and accompanying bacteria that will leaven your loaf and give you a flavor you can’t get from commercial bread. It costs literally pennies and time.

For the bread

I put some all-purpose flour (again, organic, so no chemical traces to interfere) in a bowl. I added some lukewarm water. Then I dumped some of the starter in. How much? I don’t know. Maybe half a cup?

I mixed it all together and kneaded it just a few times until everything was incorporated. Tip: You don’t have to knead your dough at all if you’re willing to be patient. If you set a sourdough loaf to ferment in a room of about 60 degrees with a loose cover and wait 24 hours, the bacteria and yeast will do everything for you, and it's better than hand kneading.

Here’s the loaf 12 hours later:

Josh Slocum

It’s only risen about 20% to 30% in size so far, but that’s because sourdough is slower than commercial yeast, and my house is on the cool side. I’m going to put it in the oven with just the oven light on to speed it up.

How long will it take to double in size? I don’t know. It might do so by 24 hours, or it might take 36 hours. The longer the fermentation, the more digestible the bread, the better the texture, and the better the flavor. Sooner or later, it will fully rise, and I’ll pop it in a preheated, covered dutch oven at 500 degrees, and I’ll get a beautiful loaf with that crisp, glass-shattering crust.

My hope is that you’ll find something — bread, cakes, roast meats, whatever you like — and just cook it. Put down your cookbook. Turn off the phone. Stop looking for a “foolproof” recipe for bolognese sauce. Stop watching step-by-step videos.

Learn it in your hands and in your mind. Even most “mistakes” in cooking aren’t fatal to the meal. We don’t have to be slaves to expert directions. None of this is arcane knowledge beyond mere 21st-century mortals. Peasants who lived quite literally on one penny a day turned out two or three meals a day for their families without any of the gee-gaws and expert hand-holding that we moderns have become dependent upon.

Just go cook things!

Quick Fix: Is a flood-damaged car worth the savings?



Hi, I'm Lauren Fix, longtime automotive journalist and a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers. Welcome back to "Quick Fix," where I answer car-related questions you submit to me.

Today's question comes from Paul in Pennsylvania.

Hi Lauren:

What is the deal with flood-damaged cars?

Should I take a chance? The deals sound great, but am I buying a nightmare?

Great question, Paul, and I think this is something a lot of people get confused about.

Remember Hurricanes Rita and Katrina? Combined, they resulted in some 500,000 flood-damaged cars, many of which ended up on the used market.

I'll say now the same thing I said then: Don't buy a car with flood damage. It's not worth the risk.

Why?

Number one, there is no warranty. I don't care if the car is brand new, you lose your warranty right out of the box. No manufacturer is going to stand behind it. And they can tell if the car is flood-damaged; even if it's not obvious upon inspection, the insurance companies will report it.

Secondly, water can do unseen damage to a car's passive safety features. This includes airbags, forward collision warning, even seat belts.

If the water got into the base of the car, like where your feet go onto the carpet, that could rot out everything underneath — including the various computerized sensors that keep these safety features working.

Even worse, corrosion from water could actually cause an airbag not to deploy or deploy with no reason. Not good.

The third thing that people often fail to consider is the health hazards a flood-damaged car can present. If its in the ductwork, you're breathing it: anything from mold to mildew to E. coli.

Think about it: You don't know where the car was. It was underwater, yes, but was it salt water? Sewer water?

Now — if you suspect a car you're looking at is flood-damaged, the best thing to do is take it to an ASE-certified technician. If he confirms the damage, walk away. No matter how good the deal may seem, you do not want that car.

Even without a mechanic, there are a few tell-tale signs to look for.

  • Excessive air freshener: If they've doused the car with perfume in the interior ... yeah, that's a clue they're covering something up.
  • Rust in weird places: Rust is never good, of course, but in some places on a car it's understandable. In other places — on the hood hinges, for example — it's a very bad sign.
  • Moisture in the fuse box: If you see any signs that water's gotten under that plastic cover, that means it's been in a flood.

Finally, watch out for "washed" titles. Unscrupulous sellers will move a title from state to state to try to hide flood damage or a car's totaled status. Don't rely on the title alone; companies like Carfax can help protect.

Ultimately, its better to trust your gut than to snap up a too-good-to-be-true deal. Flood-damaged cars are nothing to play around with, and they can be very dangerous.

Got a car-related question? Email me at getquickfix@pm.me.

$3,000 for hail damage? How you can protect yourself from the new rental car scam



Car rental companies are quietly charging unsuspecting customers thousands of dollars in so-called damage fees — often weeks after the car has been returned. These charges are frequently unsupported, barely documented, and nearly impossible to dispute unless you know exactly how the system works.

In one case, a customer returned a rental car in Denver — no issues, no incident, nothing unusual. Then came a $3,000 bill in the mail. The reason? Alleged hail damage.

The roof and hood are often where hail damage occurs, and ironically, those are the areas most renters fail to photograph.

There were no photos provided at the time of the return. No damage inspection report. No conversation with a manager on the spot. The only justification given weeks later was that the company pulled weather data and determined that he must have been near a hailstorm — therefore, he was automatically responsible.

No proof

That’s right. Not proof that the car was damaged under his care. Not proof that damage even existed when he returned the car. Just the assumption that because he rented a car in Colorado during summer, and a hailstorm occurred somewhere in the region, he was liable.

This happens far more often than most people realize.

Rental companies are increasingly relying on post-return claims. These are often triggered not by their employees noticing anything during check-in, but by someone (often with the help of AI) discovering a ding or scratch later — sometimes days later — and assuming it must have been the last renter. Or worse, they may have known the damage was already there before but didn’t assign the cost to the correct customer and are now looking for someone else to pin it on.

Renter’s burden

What makes this so dangerous is that the process overwhelmingly favors the rental companies. The burden of proof is on you. You’re guilty until you can prove otherwise. Most renters have no idea what they agreed to when they signed the contract. Most don’t take thorough photos before driving off the lot. And by the time the bill shows up, it’s too late.

Now let’s be clear about what’s really happening.

The rental contract says you’re responsible for any damage that occurs during the rental period — regardless of fault. It doesn’t matter if a tree branch falls on the car while it's parked or if a shopping cart scratches the side at a grocery store. Even acts of nature like hail or flood damage fall on your shoulders.

If there’s no photo record or inspection at the time of pickup or return, the company is free to decide when the damage happened — and guess who they choose every time.

Hail no

In this Denver case, the customer did one thing right: He checked the weather history from his phone and confirmed that he was never near a hailstorm during the rental period. His phone’s GPS and time-stamped data backed it up. But even with that evidence, the company still tried to push the charge.

They claimed they use an external hail and storm database to verify damage. But the customer wasn’t in the affected area. There was no damage noted at the time of return. And there were no inspection records. Eventually, after escalating the matter and demanding documentation, the company backed down.

Only then did they admit they were “open to further conversation” and dropped the claim. No apology. No acknowledgment of fault. Just silence.

RELATED: Don't get SCAMMED by fake parking tickets!

UCG/Getty Images

A new revenue stream

This is not the exception. It’s the model.

This is a serious consumer issue, and it’s getting worse. Post-return damage claims are now a revenue stream for some rental operations. And many of them outsource these cases to third-party claim companies that are incentivized to collect, regardless of the facts.

So what can you do?

Protect yourself

You can start by protecting yourself before the rental even begins. That means taking full photo documentation of the vehicle — front, back, both sides, the roof, hood, bumpers, wheels, undercarriage if possible, and the interior. Use your phone’s camera. Those photos carry location data and time stamps. That’s your legal defense.

The roof and hood are often where hail damage occurs, and ironically, those are the areas most renters fail to photograph. You’ll never see the top of the car unless you intentionally document it, and that’s exactly what these companies rely on.

When returning the car, do the same thing. Photograph it again, preferably at the return location, clearly showing its condition and surroundings. If there’s no one available to do a return walk-through with you, document everything yourself. Don’t assume that handing in the keys means you’re in the clear. Some companies inspect returned vehicles hours — or even days — after the fact.

Know your rights

Now let’s address the bigger question: Do you actually have any rights if a company decides to file a damage claim against you?

The answer is yes, but you’ll have to fight for them.

If you receive a damage claim, you have the right to request documentation. That includes photographs of the damage, time and date of the inspection, a copy of the repair invoice, and a full record of the chain of custody.

That means: When was the damage noted, by whom, and how did they confirm it happened during your rental?

Most people never ask for this. But when you do, it puts the company in a position where they must justify the claim — not just demand payment.

If they can’t produce that documentation, or if what they provide is vague or missing time stamps, that’s a red flag.

You can dispute the charge directly with the company, and if they won’t respond or negotiate, you can escalate it to their corporate office. If you paid with a credit card — and you should — file a dispute. In many cases, the credit card issuer will take your side if the company can’t substantiate the claim.

Some renters have even taken these disputes to small-claims court — and won. Not just because they were innocent, but because the rental company failed to provide the most basic evidence.

A transparency problem

But here’s the reality: You shouldn’t have to go through that. You shouldn’t have to become a lawyer, meteorologist, and forensic investigator just to rent a car and return it without being charged for damages you didn’t cause.

So here’s the bottom line.

The rental car industry has a transparency problem. Customers are being blamed for damages they didn’t cause, and the companies making these accusations are not being held to any standard of proof.

And until that changes, your best defense is documentation.

Take photos. Keep receipts. Ask for a walk-around when possible. If there’s visible damage, request a different vehicle or get it marked on your paperwork. If a claim arises, don’t ignore it, but don’t blindly pay it either.

This isn’t about one company or one customer. This is about an entire industry that has been allowed to operate in the shadows when it comes to post-rental damage claims. That has to change.

But until it does, protect yourself — and spread the word.

Quick Fix: Can I repair a rusted-out underbody myself?



Hi, I'm Lauren Fix, longtime automotive journalist and a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers. Welcome back to "Quick Fix," where I answer car-related questions you submit to me.

Today's question comes from Stephanie in Michigan.

Hi, Lauren:

Is it possible for a car owner to repair a rusted-out bottom of their automobile without a professional?

Well, Stephanie, unless you've got a lot of collision experience, I would recommend not doing this yourself.

Now, here's what the pros do at the collision shop. They blast the underbody using compressed air and some type of abrasive: sand, walnut shells, baking soda.

Or these days, they may also use laser rust removal.

Theoretically, you could probably rent the equipment and do it yourself. And then you could take your car to a place like Ziebart for rust protection.

But keep in mind the safety considerations. You want to wear protective gear — and you want to know what you're doing.

And not just for your own safety, but also for your car's. Remember, there is a lot of stuff down there: brake lines, fuel lines, rubber hoses, driveshaft transmission. If you damage one of those, you could end up with a much bigger problem.

So you want to make sure it's done correctly. If the rust damage is so severe that you actually have holes in your floor pan (which used to happen a lot in 80s cars), then you get into replacing sections, and it's probably a good idea to leave it to a collision shop.

Got a car-related question? Email me at getquickfix@pm.me.

Quick Fix: Why are there so many uninsured drivers — and how can I protect myself?



Hi, I'm Lauren Fix, longtime automotive journalist and a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers. Welcome back to "Quick Fix," where I answer car-related questions you submit to me.

Today's question comes from Bob in California:

Hi Lauren,

What is the current rate of uninsured motorists? I live in California, and it seems like 1 out every 6 drivers has no insurance. That has to have an enormous impact on insurance costs.

Furthermore, it doesn't seem like in CA they are impounding these cars or attempting to get people to pony up for insurance.

What are your thoughts?

You are correct, Bob: California has a significant issue with uninsured drivers.

According to estimates from the California Department of Motor Vehicles and the Insurance Information Institute, approximately 17% of California drivers are uninsured as of 2025. This translates to roughly 4.7 million uninsured motorists out of the state’s 27.65 million licensed drivers.

So your estimate that "1 out of every 6 drivers" lack insurance is spot-on.

It's a big mess, and it's hitting insured drivers hard, inflating premiums and leaving responsible drivers to foot the bill for others' negligence. California's new 2025 liability minimums are a step toward better protection, but they're also pushing premiums up, which could ironically increase the uninsured rate as low-income drivers get priced out. It's a tough cycle to break.

Fines and impoundment are on the books, but they're not aggressively enforced enough to deter the sheer volume of uninsured drivers.

Impounding vehicles sounds effective, but it's costly for authorities and politically sensitive, especially in poor communities. Electronic verification systems could help, but they're only as good as the follow-through — random checks or sting operations might catch more violators.

What can you do to protect yourself as a law-abiding California driver? Uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage, or UM/UIM, is a must. I'd recommend boosting your UM/UIM limits to at least $100,000/$300,000 or higher if affordable, as medical and repair costs can skyrocket.

To solve this problem, California needs a multipronged approach: tougher enforcement, more impoundments, stricter DMV checks, better access to affordable insurance, and public campaigns to stress the risks of driving uninsured.

Until then, insured drivers like you are stuck subsidizing the system. It's frustrating, but arming yourself with solid coverage and staying vocal about enforcement gaps can make a difference.

And unfortunately, it's not just a problem in California. Across the U.S., about 14% of drivers — roughly 1 in 7 — are uninsured, with states like Washington, D.C. (25%) and New Mexico (25%) leading the pack, driving up premiums for everyone else. Check your state’s uninsured motorist rate and consider adding UM/UIM coverage to protect yourself on the road.


Got a car-related question? Email me at getquickfix@pm.me.

Quick Fix: What's the safest used car for my teenager?



Hi, I'm Lauren Fix, longtime automotive journalist and a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers. Welcome back to "Quick Fix," where I answer car-related questions you submit to me.

Today's question comes from Sarah in Tampa, Florida.

Hi Lauren:

We are helping our teenager buy his first car so he can drive himself to his job this summer. We want something safe, inexpensive, and reliable.

Can you 1) recommend where to look for such a car? And 2) suggest any makes or models that buyers tend to have good luck with?

Thank you!

Great question, Sarah — and I think I've got some good answers for you.

When it comes to buying a used car, dealers are always a good bet: buy a certified pre-owned vehicle and you're protected by a warranty.

If you want buy from a private seller, I recommend you get the vehicle you're considering up on a lift so an ASE certified mechanic can look at. Have him or her give the car one of three rankings:

Green: This means "go," of course. It's well-maintained, no rust, the engine and brakes are in good working order. An easy decision to buy.

Yellow: Cars like this might have been in a minor fender-bender, or have some concerning but repairable issues to deal with. Worth a buy if you know what you're getting into.

Red: Avoid. This includes severe accidents, flood damage, a salvage title, and the kind of problems (transmission, for example) that can cost more than the value of the car.

As far as car safety goes, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) maintains a wealth of ratings online.

Now for where the rubber meets the road. Here are a few of my car recommendations at different price points.

New

  • Kia K4
  • Mazda CX 30
  • Toyota Prius
  • Honda Civic

Used under 20k

  • 2017 Toyota RAV4
  • 2018 Mazda CX 5
  • 2017 Honda CR – V
  • 2021 Toyota Corolla

Used under 15k

  • 2018 Kia Sportage
  • 2019 Kia Soul
  • 2017 Toyota Corolla
  • 2018 Mazda3

And, for some real bargains (keep in mind, however, that with cars 10-15 years old you're sacrificing safety and/or reliability):

Used under 10k

  • 2009 Toyota RAV4
  • 2010 Honda element
  • 2011 Toyota Avalon

Much more information where that came from. Just click the video below:

Got a car-related question? Email me at getquickfix@pm.me.

Quick Fix: Why has my car insurance skyrocketed overnight?



Hi, I'm Lauren Fix, longtime automotive journalist and a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers. Welcome back to "Quick Fix," where I answer car-related questions you submit to me.

Today's question comes from Danny in Wiley, Texas.

Hi, Lauren.

Three years ago, I moved my family from Southern California to northeast Dallas suburbs. And we couldn't be happier. We left California in California and haven't looked back.

That said, it was recently time for my insurance renewal, and I had been with AAA — a primary California insurance provider who also services Texas — for 20-plus years.

They were raising our rates by nearly 50%. We were two drivers with two vehicles and zero tickets or accidents.

Yes, our rates were climbing from $4,000 to $6,000 annually, WTF. This has never happened before.

And then we bought a new car and decided we would keep the other two, and they quoted me $9,500, nearly $10,000 a year. Whoa, we had a double take. I spent two hours on the phone with AAA, and in the end, they landed on "our rates have just increased."

Is this really the case, or is it BS?

Note: We have since moved to State Farm, gotten better coverage, and all three vehicles are paying about $4,500 annually. What do you think?

A lot of us feel your pain, Danny. I think we can narrow the rate hike down to a few culprits, from data mining to disaster — but the important thing is you shopped around for a better deal.

Let's check it out in the video below:

Got a car-related question? Email me at getquickfix@pm.me.