How common is it for a grown adult to have never changed a lightbulb before?

35 comments

1. Wait, you can change light bulbs? Fuck. I’ve moved house 3 times already.

2. I tried calling the landlord but then I realised it was my house, so naturally I rung the solicitor.

   Honestly, who hasn’t changed a bulb in a lamp or something by the age of 12ish?

   I’m not sure how common bayonet are in other countries but once you look at it surely it’s common sense.

   I’ve been in my house two and a half years without needing to change a bulb yet, these newer bulbs do have advantages

3. Houses have capacity to install light bulbs, well i never , always lived in dark.

4. Probably more common than you think, we have to change them all the time in rentals even when there was spare bulbs in the flat. Also had a 45 minute drive each way to show someone how Venetian blinds work.

5. Modern bulbs last years. I don’t think I’ve ever had an LED bulb die on me and I had an old school Eco bulb die on me after something like 15 years. So yeah, it’s possible.

   Bayonet fittings aren’t a thing in Europe and I could imagine elsewhere, so that’s not surprising.

6. I was just saying to my OH yesterday that I can’t remember the last time *I* changed a bulb. Certainly not since we moved in to the current house, so for about 10 years? Given the lifespan of new bulbs I reckon it’s quite possible for someone to have never experienced a blown bulb.

7. Is this a joke?

8. My dad used to put me on his shoulders so I could change the lightbulb before I was tall enough to reach.

   I can’t imagine reaching adulthood having never changed a lightbulb. I did have to replace a flourescent tube for the first time last week in the office though. That’s a much more tense affair, one slip and there’s glass everywhere.

9. “grown adult”? You mean adult.

10. This must be since the ban on selling 100W incandescent bulbs.
    60W incandescents last for ages, and 40W are near immortal.

    I’ve had to change the occasional CFW, but only ever found 1 faulty LED bulb.

    What progress we have made!

11. I’d imagine anyone in their early 20s now have had LED and energy efficient bulbs around them since they were old enough to process that changing a light bulb is a task, so chances they’ve had to do it are low unless they live in a house filled with old halogen bulbs or similar

12. How many lightbulbs does it take to change a grown adult?

13. Were they raised by wolves, or what? Maybe your flatmates haven’t got opposable thumbs and you just didn’t notice? There’s a PhD in this for someone, for sure…

14. The only bulbs I’ve ever needed to change are in a salt lamp and the oven. They’re the only incandescent bulbs in our home.

    Everything else is LED or a smart bulb and have never needed swapping out. I’m confident I could do it when I need to though.

    Edit: I suppose technically I did *put* the smart bulbs in their lamps. But the lamps didn’t come with bulbs so technically I didn’t change them…

15. I once had to teach a guy, in his thirties, how to fix a punctured tyre on his bicycle.

16. Bulbs last about 10 years now. And a lot of people don’t stay in the same flat / house for that length. So I’d say it’s pretty common.

17. I don’t know how you guys have all these long lasting bulbs. I only install LEDs but I must have 40 bulbs in my house so I’m changing multiple every month.

18. It’s a decade since the standard bulbs were started to be phased out. We have had low energy and LED being the default for almost 20 years. It’s not uncommon for many people 20-30s to have never needed to change a light bulb.

19. I am utterly useless with DIY but even I’ve done this. When I lived alone I had no other option. It’s hardly difficult.

20. Slightly related, but the inventor of the GU10 fitting needs to learn a few things about ramps, hard to fail, user testing and not being a miserable dick.

21. I’d be equally shocked to meet a 30 yo who doesn’t know how to change a bulb. I have one friend who won’t fill her car’s screenwash, she takes it to a garage every time, and I really have to work to contain my disgust!

22. Surprisingly common, I’ve had a bunch of housemates call the landlord to change light bulbs. It’s probably going to become even more common with LED bulbs having to be replaced very rarely.

23. Probably can’t wire a plug either

24. It’s becoming more and more common.

    Kind of related. One of my mates put up some shelves. He drilled the brackets into place and rested the shelf on top. He then put all his 1/18 scale cars and DVDs on there and wondered why the whole thing fell down later that night. I looked at it later when I went over… he had 3 brackets for a 14ft shelf… I couldn’t believe the idiocracy. I soon forced him to put 7 brackets up and watched him screw them into the wood and they haven’t fallen since. I’m now considered a guru… It’s a feckin shelf…

25. I’m 23 and never changed one in my life.

26. Zero – clear sing of body takeover by lizard alien – suggest you watch old si-fi series V

    https://youtu.be/2RqVOn-pJsY?t=108

27. That’s amazing.

    Next time a lightbulb blows I’m going to get the kids to do it.

28. My last flat’s LED bulbs were not even permitted to be replaced by the tenant. They were a fully sealed water/steam/fireproof unit that was hard-wired into the mains and weren’t supposed to be changed other than by an electrician.

    As I’m getting on a bit now, I have of course changed a lightbulb, but nowadays if you get a high-quality LED unit, it may not ever need to be changed.

    Same as on a modern car: changing the headlamps requires replacing a whole factory-sealed unit that costs hundreds of pounds, and often involves pulling off a lot of bodywork. When I was younger, it was just a matter of popping in a new bulb, and it took 2 minutes, but they needed replacing so often that I kept spares in the glove box… and you could get leaks where water would get in and make them all hazy…

29. I always thought it odd that I/we’re not allowed to change light bulbs at work (I work for local council). Thought everyone would be ok with it and seems such a waste of money, that we have to get an electrician in. Guess this is why!

30. How do the youngsters install their fancy smart bulbs, hire someone?

31. My brother got a flat tyre and his immediate reaction was ‘oh no, I have no signal to call the AA’.

32. Do they work in HR or Marketing?

33. My daughter’s 20, and I’d say she only had to do this once, 2 years ago, as bulbs rarely burn out now. In our previous home, I put in new bulbs the day we moved in, and took them out the day we left – and for logistical reasons she wasn’t there either day.
    She only had to do it this time because we moved house to somewhere with taller ceilings, so I’m no longer tall enough to do it by myself – or I could have done it when she was at school. As all the bulbs are energy efficient LED ones, it may be years before they need to be replaced again, by which time she might not live with me… so yes, it would be easy to reach mid-20s without ever having to do it.

34. I have done it before but but not often so if a lightbulb blew now I’d probably have to google it. Sorry if this makes me a coddled man child or whatever.

35. How many people these days can rewire a plug? I remember being taught how as a child.