I don’t quite get the thrust of most of your post beyond that you have a more generous understanding on the quote.
As I get your post based on the amount spent on why it’s bad to dismiss older persons, I don’t think this is really what the article or GP suggested. similarly, I am not sure that it’s fair to say genz often doesn’t do a lot of the mentioned things. GenZ is full of individuals specializing in niche or old fashioned skills and showing the skills off on specific mediums. Coding and repair twitch streams are quite common, just maybe not as much as subjects that are easier to appreciate without much knowledge in the subject. It’s pretty easy for most people to grasp why a contortionist’s skill or someone skilled with sewing has a rare and unique talent. it’s a lot easier to understand what went into it and the precision and the result is very apparent. I think it’s not so clear with subjects like electronics repair as the tech might work afterwards, but there is too much to understand going into it to fully appreciate the result in its own, and thus audiences rely on the presenter to fill the gaps.
The authors examples are good ones if you’re already inclined towards fixing stuff on your own; but if it were me, even with a simple fix like string lights, i’d have a hard time justifying repairs on my own as i’d need to invest into the repair kit and it would be hard to shake concerns on if I did a safe repair or if I made a mistake that needs to be fixed. I imagine it’s like this for many, as even a few years back when I did laptop repair at a university, students (even technical ones) were antsy about such manual repairs and fixes, and often just preferred to put the liability on someone else. for something really disposable like lights, a cheap phone, etc, i can easily get why people of all ages would just prefer a new one.
Soldering is a fun hobby, and i think that the hobbyist community would easily eat it up if they don’t already (i’m positive you can find some electronics repair vids/channels). it is just lacking practical reasons for people to be interested and/or personalities to bring people to it.