Hammers
The year is 2047. To the outside observer, our little blue orb floating around the Milky Way looks very much the same as it has for thousands of years. However, within the confines of Earth, trouble has been brewing for many years.
The generation known as the ‘Last Synapses’ is getting older. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem. The younger members of society would simply care for the elderly and infirmed, and bid them farewell as the light that is their life slowly dims, flickers, and goes out. But the times have changed.
Although labeled as intelligent, the ‘Last Synapses’ have managed to create the least skilled offspring the world has seen. Through years of delegated parenting, or in some cases outright neglect, the world is filled with people who have no discernible skills. Sure, most people can navigate around their computing devices, constantly sending their friends duck face self portraits, but few, if any, of these same people know what a hammer looks like… and even fewer could jumpstart a car.
Gone are the weekends spent with dad making furniture. Gone are the times spent learning to tie a square knot, so that a mattress can be properly affixed to the roof of a car. Gone are the afternoons spent baiting a hook and catching the evenings dinner. Gone are the times spent working the soil, hoping to get crops in return. Gone are the afternoons spent plinking cans from 10 yards with a slingshot… Instead, days are filled with shuffling kids to and from play dates, parties, and sports practices.
Play dates, parties, and sports, aren’t in and of themselves bad things, and help create well rounded individuals. They only become detrimental when they are all that a society cares about. So before it’s too late, the ‘Last Synapses’ must teach their children something, because if they don’t, no one will, and everyone will die.