Brain vs Fingers

[rgraham666]

Brain for me.

I have a mild motor control problem so I can't type very quickly.

And my longhand is illegible unless I think about every stroke of every letter. Then I'm spending more time thinking about drawing the letters than actually writing. so i don't try to write longhand.

 

[shereads]

I'd better shut down for a while. The urge to pound something is exceeding the keyboard's known tolerance for abuse.

Seriously, Doctor, I think my typing is a compulsion. We had to pass a typing-speed test to take journalism classes in college. I was a slow, careful typer at the time, and had three weeks to pass the test or pick another major. I typed in my dreams. Few other forms of violence do so little harm and can be indulged for pay.

 

[shereads]

At work one time I sat in the cube next to a guy who could type so fast that you couldn't even hear the individual key-clicks. It was just like a rippling purring sound, kind of like when we used to put baseball cards in the spokes of our bikes and ride real fast.

One of the best things that ever happened to speed typists in office environments was a sound program from Monty Python's Complete Waste of Time that allowed you to select from a menu of keyboard sounds. Including (ahem) one which approximated the expulsion of digestive gases in different keys. Naturally, that one was popular with boys at the office who collected G.I. Joe dolls. Writing became less important than composing songs on the keyboard.

My own favorite was called "Typewriter." It sounded exactly like typing on a manual typewriter, right down to an authentic ding when you'd hit the return key. It was splendid.

 

[cloudy]

they're probably about equal for me, although I do have to make sure that my fingers are lined up right before I get going, or I wind up with a page that looks like this:

tget;re oribabkt abiyt eqyak fir nem aktgiygg U di gave ti .....

 

[SeaCat]

My brain is definitely faster than my fingers when I type. (Just about the only time my brain is faster than my fingers. ) I never took a typing class and therefore type using three fingers on each hand. That being said when I get going I tend to out type my computer, and have been known to take a break to get some coffee to give my computer time to catch up. (It is kind of disconcerting to look up from the keyboard and watch the letters apearing on the screen, the letters from two paragraphs back.) Of course I damn near kill the spell check when I do this.

Cat

 

[wildsweetone]

My fingers are faster than my brain (nothing new there), about 95 words a minute, but the latest quirky part is that my fingers keep going off on tangents of their own and THEY MAKE UP REAL WORDS to put in the middle of sentences which drives me nuts when I go back and re-read what I've done. Of course, spell checkers don't pick them up.

I have no idea what I'm going to write about, which is why I say I am my own First Reader - the words have hit the page before my brain has made me consciously aware they exist. It can make for scary reading. lol

 

[Huckleman2000]

My brain is definitely faster, by several orders of magnitude.

Of course, I'm a slow typist, so that's not saying much.

 

[shereads]

My fingers are faster than my brain (nothing new there), about 95 words a minute, but the latest quirky part is that my fingers keep going off on tangents of their own and THEY MAKE UP REAL WORDS to put in the middle of sentences which drives me nuts when I go back and re-read what I've done.

Your fingers make unauthorized changes to your work? That's insulting. And you can't even respond with an obscene hand-gesture.

You should use voice-recognition software and take your fingers out of the loop.




No.

Forget it.

Stop her, Lefty.





Kill the priest.

Aaackk - gag -

IT BURNS! IT BURNS!











Damn. I almost lost a battle of wills with my own fingers. What's happening here?

 

[elsol]

Seriously, Doctor, I think my typing is a compulsion.

That's interesting... I have a thing for number pads.

I'll count on them, especially touch tone phones.

It's especially weird when my fingers do it on any flat surface or in the air. My girlfriend likes to watch cause it fascinates her.

Sincerely,
ElSol

 

[shereads]

That's interesting... I have a thing for number pads.

I'll count on them, especially touch tone phones.l

My compulsive speed-typing is eccentric. Your touch-pad thing is early evidence of a bizarre sexual fetish.

If you ever write about it, don't forget to post a link.

 

[elsol]

My compulsive speed-typing is eccentric. Your touch-pad thing is early evidence of a bizarre sexual fetish.

If you ever write about it, don't forget to post a link.

Okay... this I have to hear.

What bizarre sexual fetish does counting on touch-pad lead to?

I mean, I've been told I'm good with my fingers on the magic button... but still.

Sincerely,
ElSol

 

[wildsweetone]

Your fingers make unauthorized changes to your work? That's insulting. And you can't even respond with an obscene hand-gesture.

You should use voice-recognition software and take your fingers out of the loop.




No.

Forget it.

Stop her, Lefty.





Kill the priest.

Aaackk - gag -

IT BURNS! IT BURNS!











Damn. I almost lost a battle of wills with my own fingers. What's happening here?

The only reason I don't use a VR program is that I find there is a definate correlation with my fingers 'needing' the kinesthetic value of touching that which is being used as a writing tool.

If I used a VR program I might actually have to think before I speak and well, I'm sure that would be a near impossibility.

Thinking is best done without the brain being involved.

See what happens? Allow it a little freedom and it goes AWOL.

 

[NoJo]

I have Mavis Beacon on my computer. She taught me to go ghghghgh hjhjhjhjh

 

[Guest]

I have Mavis Beacon on my computer. She taught me to go ghghghgh hjhjhjhjh

the last town meeting i had to take min. for i was so damn bored, every other sentence:
The quick red fox jumped over the lazy brown dog.
Get a fucking life (that was my sentence, though)

 

[Lovepotion69]

I type between 55-65 wpm. My preference is for typing as I do it so much faster than by hand. I think much more when writing by hand, when I type the words flow freer somehow. The fingers follow my thoughts much quicker.

 

[CharleyH]

At work one time I sat in the cube next to a guy who could type so fast that you couldn't even hear the individual key-clicks. It was just like a rippling purring sound, kind of like when we used to put baseball cards in the spokes of our bikes and ride real fast.

I've always thought that I'd write better if I could type faster, especially if I could type as fast as I could think, like that guy seemed to do, but now I'm not so sure. I think now that maybe my fingers are a little faster than my brain.

Which is faster with you? The speed at which you think up the words to set down, or the time it takes you to type them out? Brain or fingers?

And, for those who write longhand as well as keyboard, do you see a difference in your style when you use one or the other? I don't write longhand much, but when I do, I think my sentences are more thought-out. Do you think it makes a difference?

The brain is slower, but much more beautiful Especially longhand.

 

[Rubyb]

While I'm waiting to find out about the key pad / sexual fetish thing and hoping the answers not that you've fallen for Ms. Beacon...

Which is faster with you? The speed at which you think up the words to set down, or the time it takes you to type them out? Brain or fingers?

The brain is much faster. The backspace key is well used, since I don't have to look at my fingers while I type, but my fingers do have their own minds and like to change words. he/she etc, cause they can't keep up.

And, for those who write longhand as well as keyboard, do you see a difference in your style when you use one or the other? I don't write longhand much, but when I do, I think my sentences are more thought-out. Do you think it makes a difference?

I don't see a difference in my writing style when I use longhand, but I do spend more time thinking about what's been written.

For me it goes something like this:
Pound away on the keyboard.
Print
Review and write in the margins, on a new page, wherever.
Type in those changes
Print and edit
Type again
Loop until I'm satisfied with the work.

When posting on the forums - I just type, read, edit and hit that post button; sometimes a bit too quickly.

I find it's easer to proof my own work when it's printed. There's something about getting away for the computer for a bit that helps. And reading out loud is a must.

Great questions Dr. M.