We’ve all seen “life hacks” on social media and YouTube, but are they worthwhile?
According to a new survey, people are actually learning from them — in fact, they’re saving Americans four hours a week, on average. A quarter of those polled say they’re saving six hours a week with the shortcuts.
According to a non-scientific poll of 2,002 Americans that was sponsored by Minute Rice, 71% say they’ve used more of these shortcuts than ever since the start of the pandemic in 2020.
Cooking hacks were the most popular, with more than half of those polled saying they’ve used them to save time in the kitchen. That includes 41% who discovered how to cook meals in advance, and 40% who learned how to more easily peel potatoes by boiling them first.
That said, hackers say it usually takes them three tries to get the trick right.
However, for all the helpful hacks online, there’s more than a fair share of unhelpful clickbait. Many of those supposed hacks just straight-up don’t work. And 67% pf those polled refuse to watch a video or read an article that starts with the headline, “You’ve been doing X wrong!” or “I was today years old when I learned…”
Also, when it comes to life hacks, beware: 44% say an attempted hack has “failed spectacularly,” with one response to a supposed time saver declaring, “Cut my finger off!”
Oh, and don’t let trying to save a few minutes lead you to forego common sense: You can’t charge a cellphone by putting it in the microwave, Einstein.