The world of knowledge that’s sitting in our back pocket

MY eldest daughter asked me to help her make a bomb last weekend. Thankfully it was only a ‘hot chocolate bomb’ – a ball of chocolate which you fill with cocoa powder and marshmallows and drop into hot milk to create a chocolately drink.

It involved melting chocolate over a double boiler (a bowl suspended over a pan of hot water), before brushing the melted result around silicone cupcake cases which we were using for moulds.

After allowing that to set and adding another layer, it was a case of easing the chocolate shell out of the mould, adding the filling, and ‘glueing’ two of them together using more melted chocolate.

I’m not some kind of expert on the topic, but was able to read a recipe and watch a video online and before long we were dropping them into hot milk and watching the result.

That’s the thing about our current information age; you can teach yourself almost anything if you can find the right search terms and have the patience to watch a tutorial – or three.

It’s not just recipes but help with the homework and a plethora of DIY advice which has guided me through a home renovation.

Flooring, tiling, electrics, lights – you name it, I’ve watched the video and tried it myself. Be careful on the electrics though, as you really should ask for a professional there.

When I decided my kitchen was in need of a refresh, I decided against spending five figures on a new one and instead launched into something I had seen on another video – replacing the cupboard doors and painting the tiles instead.

The white goods were not that old anyway and the carcasses of the cupboards were fine; it was just in a style that I didn’t really like.

So I ordered new doors from a firm I found on the internet, drilled holes for some handles (also found online) and painted the tiles.

Together with some LED light strips and trims, the whole project cost me less than £700, when I would have spent £10,000 on a new kitchen.

It probably helped that I had some half-decent tools, but the skills which made it possible were learned from online tutorial videos and then put into practice.

Today’s generation of youngsters will likely never know what it is like to have to search through a thick encyclopaedia for something, as most have the same thing in the palm of their hands through their smartphones.

The ability to remember facts and dates by rote learning seem pretty much redundant when you can ask Alexa and she will tell you the answer on the spot.

If you can get the result that quickly, why would anyone employ you to do it?

Giving our children and young people the ability to learn using these incredible resources seems like the education of the future.

Of course, proper tradesmen (and women) would laugh at the idea you could gain their level of expertise by watching a few tutorials, and they would be right.

Their level of skill is built up by layer upon layer of lessons and experience until they can spot a problem and fix it while the rest of us are still scratching our heads.

That’s where their qualifications are justified and expertise worth paying out for.

Yet when it comes to smaller jobs, or things which don’t involve hazards like electricity or gas, the ability to do things for ourselves has become far greater because of the world of knowledge which sits in our pockets or on the sofa beside us.

Whether it is a recipe, craft idea or DIY project, there’s so much to learn. You could even make a bomb or two – as long as chocolate is involved.