I carry a pen in my purse for these moments. Yes, they should be learning old fashioned skills. My son's, aged 32,30 and 28 have friends that can't tell time on a clock with a face, can't tie their shoes, can't do basic math, I could go on and on. Some can't sign their names because they don't know cursive writing so they actually print their name on their licences, etc. Again, these are friends of my boys, my boys were taught all the old stuff, by me.

Your story reminded me.of meme I saw once about the way to mess with a young person, put them in a room with nothing but a rotary dial phone and a tv with knobs on it (no remote) and nothing else. LOL