I suppose it would be mostly practical skills, cooking, fixing things. Usually had to be done by people themselves.
Maybe also mental things like navigating (with or without paper map) and remembering their daily and weekly agendas.
What other things would be a big difference with the people today?
Reading card files in libraries.
Servicing and repairing many things in the house, but devices were far more easily diagnosed and repairable due to not being computerized. Really the “it’s broke and I gotta fix it” ability across age groups has really dried up. Doesn’t matter if it’s changing a tire on a car, or a kid having to fix a punctured tube on a bike tire to get to their friend’s house. They don’t ride anywhere for that matter. Changing brake pads. Changing the air filter in the home HVAC. People don’t do this stuff anymore.
Being bored.
Reading newspapers, books, magazines, etc. I don’t think people read as much anymore.
Hobbies. I think they’ve kinda died off, at least the physical ones. Model planes, trains, building stuff in your garage, cars, etc. Some of it’s been priced out of range or has gotten too technological for some, like cars, but manually creating something as a pastime has really disappeared.
Remembering a lot of phone numbers in your head.
I’m sure I’ll think of more, but it’s been a while since I was a kid and thought about pre-modern tech society.
Physical hobbies are alive and well, but kinda niche when compared to things like video games or tv/movies. I got into model building a couple years ago, and there are plenty of folks who are into it. I would argue the hobby is bigger than it’s ever been. Same goes for other things like r/c and tabletop gaming.
Also, don’t forget about 3d printing, which would definitely fit as a physical hobby. It also augments the previously mentioned hobbies, as well as many more.
Ooh I just changed my air filter for the house the other day!
Maintenance in general does seem to be something lacking in an age of disposable and easily replaceable items. Often times it is less expensive to replace vs repair, which is an upside down paradigm for sustainability…unless the retired item is recycled or repurposed.
Good for you.
DIY filter change? $25 give or take depending on the filter. Service company doing it? $100 for the luxury of them arriving, $30 filter, $150 min labor rate to maybe do a service check, then whatever $ for issues they find.
FWIW think it’s good to have pros check stuff once in a while, they’ll see things I won’t know to check.
Definitely agree with having pros check in on stuff I’m not 100% confident in.