Solman asks "Why are people getting more useless?".
I think, in large part, it's because we're encouraged to be or are forced to use technology that's way beyond our understanding.
Cars are an obvious example. Who can remember back to the days of their first car with a nice old-fashioned carburettor and distributor that anyone of a practical bent could maintain and repair very cheaply. No worries about the ABS packing up back then - there wasn't any. What chance do you stand under the bonnet nowadays? Even 'proper' car mechanics spend a lot of their time swapping defective black boxes that the computerised diagnostic rig has told them to change, with little or no idea of how the boxes work.
Another part of the equation is simply that we're a lot richer than we were in the post-war austerity era. People expect stuff to be more modern and flashier and seeing as they can afford it, that's what they get. No complaining if your digital room-stat packs up - you're the one who swapped it for the 25 year old mechanical model that would have lasted forever.
Still - keep buying stuff, chaps. It's a consumption led capitalist age we're living in so the world economy will collapse if you don't!
