Can You Type?

[TheeGoatPig]

I'm listening to a podcast about movies and the two reviewers that host said podcast went off on a tangent about learning to type on actual typewriters, and how a lot of people that have to type a lot for work these days don't actually know how to type.

I did learn how to type when I was in middle school back in the late 80s, but it was a skill that quickly diminished as it went unused for the next 8 years or so. When I started working at an architectural firm I had to do some minimal typing, but I wasn't typing properly as I had learned so many years ago.

Now I type with multiple fingers and my thumb on my right hand and just my pointer finger on my left hand, and occasionally that thumb on the space bar. I make tons of mistakes tha and have to hit the backspace bar button often to fidx those mistakes as ifs evidenced by this sentenc3e that I am refiusing to correct in anyway (this wasn't a joke, that was what I actually typed trying to compose that sentence). See? Terrible.

Anyway. Can you type?

 

[Jada59]

I can. Not very well! I type fast but make a lot of typos.

My daughter will be 21 soon. She was supposed to learn keyboarding in school but she never did. Some high schools in this area have a keyboarding class but since everything is all online now, it seems like a waste to wait so long to learn.

I can't text with my thumbs. I use my pointer finger.

 

[NotWise]

Anyway. Can you type?

Yep. I took typing in junior high in the late '60's and I never forgot it. I type with both hands on the keyboard and I almost never look down. I amused my much-younger co-worker once when he interrupted me while typing. I looked up, listened to his question, and answered it without stopping typing.

"You can do that?" he asked.

I remember a phone call (years ago) with my long-time employer. I could hear his keyboard the whole time we talked. He hardly paused typing at any time in the conversation, and he typed fast. But then, he's unusual.

 

[Hypoxia]

We had an old Underwood at home but I didn't learn to use it till an 8th grade typing class that was interrupted when JFK was shot. I've typed pretty much since then, including as an Army radioteletypist (*) and civilian codemonkey. I've been criticized for showing off at the keyboard. By peasants. Feh.

We now have AIs reading brain implants to produce written words. Keyboards will soon be as antiquated as cursive handwriting and paper dictionaries.
_____

(*) A military KSR-33 teletype keyboard required about 50 pounds of pressure per keystroke. I went up to 80 words-per-minute on it. Shake my hand. Wince.

 

[Blind_Justice]

I can touch-type with a pretty decent 75 to 90 wpm on average. The teachers at my school for the blind were surprisingly forward-thinking when they made typing classes mandatory in the late 80s/early 90s. Their main lines of thought were two-fold. First, all tests from form 11 onwards including the Abitur had to be readable by sighted people, so the blind pupils needed a way to do that, which typing accomplished and second, they predicted that computers would soon become an indispensable tool in the VI toolbox. So, from form 7 onwards, we had five hours of typing drills a week. First on huge Triumph-Adler Gabriele 35 mechanical typewriters, later on Brother electrical daisy-wheel suitcase models (no correction tape ever) on which we wrote all our tests too.

Along with their thorough language curriculum, typing is one of the life skills I use most often to this day.

What my teachers did not anticipate was the proliferation of touchscreens though

 

[Bramblethorn]

*closes eyes*

I learned to touchtype as a kid and it's been amazingly useful. I do find that it's not great for my back, though, and I'll be glad when that tech Hypoxia was talking about relieves me of the need.

*opens eyes*

My fingers are pretty trustworthy, but I do find that reading what I've written helps catch subtler points. Looking at it, "touchtype" feels wrong and I can see it ought to be "touch-type" instead.

 

[gordo12]

Mid 60's in junior high. All the electives like woodworking or metal work etc were full. I got typing and cooking. Two of the best things that could have happened.

14 year old guys eat a lot and I learned to cook. I do it all around home, my wife has no idea what's in the kitchen or where it is.

Typing turned out to be a couple of guys and about 28 girls. Hardship I tell you, hardship!

I learned up to about 40wpm touch typing and low and behold along came computers. I can still do it. Blindfolded.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADvYF75OGN8 17 sec

 

[yukonnights]

I'm horrendously bad at typing ! I saw this thread and looked up and tried an online "learn to type" thing....yep, I'm horrendously bad How long would it take on average to learn to type with an online lesson...any guesses? It'd be nice to learn, but maybe not worth it at this point

 

[gordo12]

I'm horrendously bad at typing ! I saw this thread and looked up and tried an online "learn to type" thing....yep, I'm horrendously bad How long would it take on average to learn to type with an online lesson...any guesses? It'd be nice to learn, but maybe not worth it at this point

I did 3 months with classes 3-4 times/week about 45 minutes each.

 

[yukonnights]

I did 3 months with classes 3-4 times/week about 45 minutes each.

That's not too bad. But then, you may be a genius as far as I know I could do that everyday on-line and see how it goes. (I already finally learned tonight why the F & J keys have little bumps on them )

 

[JaxRhapsody]

I was pretty decent, not sure how many words I could type a minute, but I could type without looking at the keyboard, or not often. I could even text pretty fast on say a flip phone. I don't use my laptops too much and their keyboardz aren't that responsive, I suspect they're dirty.

 

[gordo12]

But then, you may be a genius as far as I know

LOL, I think wifey would have another word. More like i _ i _t

 

[Blind_Justice]

I'm horrendously bad at typing ! I saw this thread and looked up and tried an online "learn to type" thing....yep, I'm horrendously bad How long would it take on average to learn to type with an online lesson...any guesses? It'd be nice to learn, but maybe not worth it at this point

Typing is 5 percent knowing where each finger has to go eventually and 95 percent muscle memory. I struggled for the first few years, earning E's and F's during typing class. The incessant dictations and speed exercises didn't work because my brain was too preoccupied trying to get it right. Eventually my teacher had enough and she gave me a typewriter to take home, a blindfold and the following assignment:

"Type something. Anything. Every day for half an hour. Only rule: Wear the blindfold."

At first I thought that wouldn't work. If I fail the basic typing drills so spectacularly, how was I supposed to freely type anything? But the moment I stopped worrying about wpm or precision and instead focused on WHAT I was writing, it began to click. Granted, the first dozen sheets were barely legible, but eventually I improved. Half a year after begining the "Jedi typing" exercise, I took home my first B on a dictation.

I used my half hours to write smut, btw.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I'm a six finger typist on a keyboard, pretty much, but never learned to type properly. On a full sized keyboard I was at one stage 90 wpm 95% accuracy. Not that fast now, though - and auto-correct and predictive text actually slow me down. Typing on a tablet is a couple of fingers, the screen keys are too small for speed. That's how the bulk of my stories are written, though, which is all a bit backwards facing...

 

[KeithD]

Yep. The most useful course I took in high school.

 

[TxRad]

I took typing back in high school. I learned on an old Underwood manual the first year and was changed over to a electric the second. 80-90 words a minute with 90% accuracy.

Now I murder keyboards at around 45 WPM using two fingers and a thumb. I'm glad i know touch-typing as most of the keys on my keyboard are blank. I've beat the letters off them.

Yeah, it's time for a new keyboard. I have one over on the desk but... this one makes people do a double take and a half.

 

[yukonnights]

I took typing back in high school. I learned on an old Underwood manual the first year and was changed over to a electric the second. 80-90 words a minute with 90% accuracy.

Now I murder keyboards at around 45 WPM using two fingers and a thumb. I'm glad i know touch-typing as most of the keys on my keyboard are blank. I've beat the letters off them.

Yeah, it's time for a new keyboard. I have one over on the desk but... this one makes people do a double take and a half.

Well, now your just shaming the poor folks like me...a keyboard with blank keys

But, by golly; I'm gonna work on it now...who knows what greatness awaits if my fingers could keep up with my dirty imagination!

 

[rescatooor]

The only time I ever had typing was in elementary school. There were these games that you could play once you were done with the other exercises in computing.

At the time I was very lazy about it and insisted on being quicker on one hand. Later it is the laziness that later made me type with two hands. You can just have them lying over the keyboard and barely need to move them.

I probably don't do it exactly right. I probably use index sometimes when I should be using the middle finger. Who cares. Close enough.

I don't feel the skill is that useful anymore. It all depends on how familiar you are with that particular keyboard, me thinks. And personally I don't feel like it really is that helpful when writing. Sure, maybe for a free-writing exercise or when taking notes in class. But when I'm actually writing, I take my time.

 

[Handley_Page]

Now I type with multiple fingers and my thumb on my right hand and just my pointer finger on my left hand, and occasionally that thumb on the space bar. I make tons of mistakes tha and have to hit the backspace bar button often to fidx those mistakes as ifs evidenced by this sentenc3e that I am refusing to correct in anyway (this wasn't a joke, that was what I actually typed trying to compose that sentence). See? Terrible.

Anyway. Can you type?

We never had 'typing' at school. Typing was for girl;s-who-would-become secretaries. My Mum used to type everything on an Imperial portable and she would not let me anywhere near it.

We had an old Underwood at home but I didn't learn to use it till an 8th grade typing class that was interrupted when JFK was shot. I've typed pretty much since then, including as an Army radioteletypist (*) and civilian codemonkey. I've been criticized for showing off at the keyboard. By peasants. Feh.

We now have AIs reading brain implants to produce written words. Keyboards will soon be as antiquated as cursive handwriting and paper dictionaries.
_____

(*) A military KSR-33 teletype keyboard required about 50 pounds of pressure per keystroke. I went up to 80 words-per-minute on it. Shake my hand. Wince.

The Creed 7B machines we had in the military were not fast, but you could get up to a reasonable consistency with one.

That's not too bad. But then, you may be a genius as far as I know I could do that everyday on-line and see how it goes. (I already finally learned tonight why the F & J keys have little bumps on them )

Do tell please !

 

[oggbashan]

I'm a four finger typist because my other fingers are weak and have been since childhood. I couldn't use the weak fingers on a manual typewriter.

I can and do touch type which is useful at present because my eyesight sees double when I am tired. Typing with my eyes shut, or wearing an eyepatch on one eye while I look at the screen is more accurate.

My eldest aunt was a Lady Typewriter before 1914 - then a high tech and high paid position. She taught her younger brothers to type and they went on to become telegraphists working for the Post Office in Central London. In his 80s my father visited a museum that had a working model of the telegraph machine he had used in the 1920s. He was videoed using that machine to produce text at 160 words per minute.

How come? Telegraph machines only used upper case and no punctuation whatever STOP Every message was produced onto a strip of paper and pasted to a telegraph form. With no need for punctuation or a shift key (and intimate knowledge of how the machine worked) he used to transmit telegrams at 200 words per minute.

He could type normally. Even in his residential home we had to provide him with a typewriter for his correspondence. We encouraged him to record his life history and in his mid 90s we received 200 A4 pages which were very uninteresting because he considered his working life was covered by the Official Secrets Act (he was heavily involved in the preparations for D-Day) so he omitted all that. It was more a travelogue than a life.

 

[SimonDoom]

Yes. I can type at a decent pace but make some mistakes. I've been on a typewriter or a computer keyboard pretty much continuously since college a few decades ago, so practice has made me decent if not quite proficient.

 

[quietlylooking]

I took typing lessons at my high school during the summer session after graduation, just before I went to college. This was back in the mid-1980's. It was a great time to take it, as all of my papers in college had to be typed (although I didn't have a typewriter, I could always find one to borrow in my dorm). Typing came easy to me since I already played the piano, but that course still remains one of the most useful ones I ever took in high school.

Edit: I still "touch type" as I learned except when it comes to numbers. I don't know what my speed is, but it's pretty fast.

 

[Emirus]

I write everything on an iPhone. Which is what I’m doing now. Holding the phone in one hand and using the index finger of the other to type this sentence. I can’t do two thumbs. I am fast when I’m doing something like this when I don’t have to think but when my mind has to work then I’m (probably) much slower.

I write my stories on an iPhone, relaxing in an armchair, using mainly my index finger but giving it a rest sometimes with the middle finger. For me I find it’s better to write a story on an iPhone and then copy and paste it into a blank Word doc. That way I always have my original to work on with my phone but the updated draft story is always on my laptop. If I was to accidentally lose it on my phone what’s been lost would still be fresh in my mind and easily replaced. It also means that whenever an idea comes to mind it can be dealt with right away and not have to wait until I can get back to my laptop. I also have a problem getting the privacy to use the laptop.

Having said all that, it’s what suits the individual and everyone is different.

 

[LoquiSordidaAdMe]

A lot of familiar stories here. I also learned in Junior High but did not stick with it and now type with two fingers and a thumb on each hand. I'm pretty quick. It's been years since I timed myself though. More and more often I find myself one-finger tapping my phone instead of typing.

One side note - my boss, like NotWise, is a touch-typist, but he's terrible at it. I've been on this contract for over two years and I've never seen him type a whole line of text without having to back up and fix some typo or other. It's actually kind of a relief because he is otherwise one if the smartest people I've ever met.

 

[LupusDei]

On full sized keyboard I can type blind at a considerable speed using my left hand only, despite being righty by nature. That's an arrangement developed in design and drawing software where right hand works mouse while left grabs function and modification keys and type in shortcuts. As you can imagine, the same arrangement works well for video games too.

Bringing right hand to keyboard should increase speed, but in practice, also increase error rate and requires at least partial visual control.

And then, this I type with single right hand index finger on my android phone, heavily using predictive guesses offered by the Samsung keyboard. In practice, it is almost as fast as thoughtful writing on full keyboard.

Especially in English, because my ancient version of World is much worse in guessing what I might be trying to spell than my adaptive trained android AI, and then I have to click on the underlined word to select the correct spelling, if one is even offered, and try again if not, or even go out to the dictionary to check translation, with often is weird, bogus or plainly not offered for the word I would choose in my native language.