Gen Z has lost this crucial driving skill that Boomers learned early It takes more brain power

Are drivers who never learn this skill getting the short end of the stick?Recent research shows that this once-ubiquitous ability is increasingly becoming a lost art.Only 18% of Americans know how to use a stick shift — with the number even lower among younger drivers.In a survey of US drivers, Extreme Terrain found more than a third of Gen Z drivers (35%) never learned to drive stick, compared with just 9% of baby boomers.Further, driving confidence is waning among younger drivers, with only half of those under 30 believing they could competently drive a manual.“People in their mid-40s and up are probably the only people left who really grew up with the stick shift; people now don’t know how to drive it unless their parents or grandparents teach them,” driving instructor Andy Nelson, owner of Safe Driver Solutions, told The Post.To that end, and to Nelson’s point, more than half of manual drivers (56%) surveyed learned to drive a manual from a parent or older relative.The reason for learning how to drive a stick has evolved over time; only 22% of Gen Z drivers learned out of necessity, compared with 55% of boomers.“Like most of society, it’s turned toward disposable technology, so rather than fixing the transmission, they just replace it,” he said.Indeed, less than 2% of all cars sold in the US in 2024 were manual, while preliminary federal data shows that manual transmissions accounted for just 0.6% of vehicles built for the US market for the 2025 model year, down from 35% in 1980.In addition to the diminishing supply, Nelson says driving stick requires thought and coordination, making it unappealing to many drivers.“Most adults don’t like to do it because it requires your brain to do too many things at once.We can all do it; we just don’t.” According to Nelson, driving a stick informs a driver’s understanding of how the vehicle functions and keeps them engaged in the objective itself.“It takes more brainpower.

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