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Is touch typing really that rare?

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NoblesseOblige

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So I work IT in a school district and probably have to assist at least a dozen different people on any given day. These range from teachers to PhD level Psychologists and Speech pathologists, to business administrators, to the occasional student (I work primarily in an admin building). Regardless of their level of computer competency I notice very few people actually are touch typing. I don't mean having to glance down once to orient one's hands to the keys (though really they shouldn't require that either), but instead people who have to stare at their keyboard as they type. I was under the impression touch typing was sort of taught everywhere. I know it was drilled into me throughout grade school.

So GAF, is the teaching of touch typing just not as common as I thought? Or do people just abandon it after school? Or am I just a freak who spent too much time with MMOs in my youth so I can efficiently touch type like it's nobody's business?

Edit: For those confused, touch typing is just typing without the use of sight. It doesn't necessary mean using the standard ASDF JKL; home row.
 
It's all about that voice transcribe software these days.

But seriously, touch typing is pretty uncommon in IT. It's more common in fields like news and blogging.
 
they taught me how to do it in middle school i think. I feel the majority of young people know how to do it. my boss has to look at the keyboard and peck at the keys with pointer fingers and i thought it was kinda weird. different generations i guess
 
sixteen-bit said:
It's all about that voice transcribe software these days.

But seriously, touch typing is pretty uncommon in IT. It's more common in fields like news and blogging.
Click to expand...

I was a scribe for CopyTalk, a huge voice to text dictation service that mostly financial advisors use. I typed out what ever those bastards said. To a T. And if we didn't do every job quickly and accurately we got paid minimum wage.

I was a touch typer prior to that job, now I can literally push any key with any finger and not break stride. I learned starting in middle school with typing games, everybody did three months of it in computer class but I'd say half of the students didn't pick it up fully.

Anecdotal, but outside of that job, I've only known five people who I would consider touch typers. It is indeed a marketable skill.
 
Im a school librarian. There is a popular assumption that kids today know how to use technology and we don't have to teach into it. Those people are wrong. Kids know so little about the technology they use, they have zero respect for it and don't even realize that they don't know. Typing is one of many skills kids today don't have.
 
sixteen-bit said:
It's all about that voice transcribe software these days.

But seriously, touch typing is pretty uncommon in IT. It's more common in fields like news and blogging.
Click to expand...
Back in 2004 in a computer skills class of some kind they were trying to get us to speak data into computers with this shit piece of software instead of type, because its the future. It was awful. Learned how to touch type pretty good in that class after we gave up on the transcribing software.
 
sixteen-bit said:
It's all about that voice transcribe software these days.

But seriously, touch typing is pretty uncommon in IT. It's more common in fields like news and blogging.
Click to expand...

I didn't mean to imply it is common in IT, just that the nature of my job has me interacting with a lot of people at their computers. But still, it drives me bonkers assisting professionals who type like they're my grandmother.
 
sixteen-bit said:
But seriously, touch typing is pretty uncommon in IT. It's more common in fields like news and blogging.
Click to expand...
This is a pretty surreal comment to me. I'm in IT, have been since forever and I don't think I've ever met a single person in the same field who doesn't touch type. A computer nerd who can't handle a keyboard is a paradox to me.
 
Computer keyboarding was a class taught in my HS in the late 90s, and I had been using a computer most of my young life. I don't see how kids today would be any different in that requirement. Especially since so many are used to touch interfaces.
 
NoblesseOblige said:
So I work IT in a school district and probably have to assist at least a dozen different people on any given day. These range from teachers to PhD level Psychologists and Speech pathologists, to business administrators, to the occasional student (I work primarily in an admin building). Regardless of their level of computer competency I notice very few people actually are touch typing. I don't mean having to glance down once to orient one's hands to the keys (though really they shouldn't require that either), but instead people who have to stare at their keyboard as they type. I was under the impression touch typing was sort of taught everywhere. I know it was drilled into me throughout grade school.

So GAF, is the teaching of touch typing just not as common as I thought? Or do people just abandon it after school? Or am I just a freak who spent too much time with MMOs in my youth so I can efficiently touch type like it's nobody's business?
Click to expand...

I think there was like one class at highschool that tried to teach touch typing.

I mean, most kids these days grew up with computers and without the home keys engraved into their mind, I wouldn't be shocked everyone has their own little way of typing efficiently.

As for me, I think I learned mostly from words and memorizing the patterns of each word, not so much I memorized the keyboard (if you asked me to write down the letters on a blank keyboard I would get like 60% most likely) I don't use the home keys, my left hand hovers over WASD and never crosses over TGB line, where my right hand is much more free form and goes wherever, most likely due to me playing FPS's/MMOs when I grew up.

My mother uses home keys and touch typing and was shocked when she saw how I typed, and when I took that typing class in highschool my teacher wouldn't shut the fuck up about my style and would get pissed when I wasn't doing the home keys shit (2010 ish)
 
What is this "touch typing" you speak of? You mean typing like a normal person?

Are you talking about having both hands on the keyboard starting from the neutral stance (left hand on asdf and right hand on jkl;")?

I thought that was standard. What other kind of typing is there?

P.S. Playing Starcraft as a kid drilled the keys into my brain. Never took a keyboarding class in school.

P.S.S. I can't type on a touch screen worth squat. I'm SUPER slow at touch screens and will always end up with multiple typos.
 
I touch type. If it matters I'm 34. I learned formally in JH/high school tech classes. I can't imagine typing on a querty keyboard any other way. Maybe it's just not as important to type quickly and accurately without looking anymore.
 
That was a required skill at my High School, and probably the class most people feared lol. I was already extremely well versed by then at touch typing so it was a breeze. I'm always surprised to see new artist come through my work who cant do it. These same people can rocket out emails on a touch screen at blazing speed though. Very interesting
 
I have a keyboard that doesn't have any letters printed on its keys and it's pretty hilarious when people come over to my house and casually try to use my computer and are completely unable to do anything.

To those who are half-way to living the dream, I recommend getting a keyboard like mine because it forced me to become a better typist since it doesn't allow the option of cheating.
 
I'm not understanding what touch typing means. You mean just typing correctly? Like position your hands on home row and go for it without looking at them? I do that.
 
Tesseract said:
every nerd worth their weight in atoms can touch type > 120 w / m
Click to expand...

As a guy who used to literally type for money

This is fast as fuck and if you can do this put it on your résumé

I was pulling around 95 WPM typing from audio, about 110 just free typing.
 
DOWN said:
I'm not understanding what touch typing means. You mean just typing correctly? Like position your hands on home row and go for it without looking at them? I do that.
Click to expand...

Yeah we called it learning home row when I was a kid using Mavis Beacon in school. Touch Typing makes it sound like a smartphone or tablet thing.
 
I give a positioning glance I don't use the bumps on the f and j key to position. After that I don't have to look. I was taught how to type in grade school.
 
terrisus said:
Because



Touchscreen "keyboards" are garbage.
Click to expand...

Not really. I can type just fine on a touchscreen keyboard.

Get on MY level.

Also, took typing/keyboarding in high school. It wasn't required. Learned how to format letters, type, and do a bunch of other cool stuff. Really glad I took that class.

My sister hunts and pecks, and it is maddening.
 
jerry113 said:
What is this "touch typing" you speak of?
Click to expand...

DOWN said:
I'm not understanding what touch typing means.
Click to expand...

It's almost like dictionaries and searches don't exist...

touch-type
verb
1.
(intransitive) to type without having to look at the keys of the typewriter
Click to expand...

It's not exactly a new or uncommon term.



ZackieChan said:
Not really. I can type just fine on a touchscreen keyboard.

Get on MY level.
Click to expand...

Hey, some people are alright at that sort of thing.
Just that it doesn't necessarily imply a transfer or skills to typing on a physical keyboard.
 
I learned it back in elementary/primary school. All The Right Type baby.

It's so strange seeing people hunt and peck when they type. Even stranger when it's someone younger than me.
 
I have never once - not in elementary school, high school or my during my 5 years of university studies, including 1 year of English - been taught touch typing. Or any kind of typing for that matter. My computer lab classes were all the same: learning how to perform basic tasks in Microsoft Office by rote. I'm 28 years old and Swedish, if it matters.

I taught myself how to type. It's not a particularly good form - it's basically an adapted version of the "PC-gaming stance" with the left ring, middle and index finger on ASD and the right hand primarily using the index finger - but I average around 80 words per minute with it even with some errors so I don't feel any real need to learn how to do it "right".
 
TouchMyBox said:
I have a keyboard that doesn't have any letters printed on its keys and it's pretty hilarious when people come over to my house and casually try to use my computer and are completely unable to do anything.
Click to expand...

aaBRE1A.gif
 
TheLostBigBoss said:
I think there was like one class at highschool that tried to teach touch typing.

I mean, most kids these days grew up with computers and without the home keys engraved into their mind, I wouldn't be shocked everyone has their own little way of typing efficiently.
Click to expand...

I was taught touch typing in 4th and 5th grade. After that it was assumed we all knew how. Also I've moved from the traditional home row of typing to more my own style for efficiency. I stick my left pinky on shift, then rest my left hand rest on ASD, thumb on space. Then my right hand is on N, J-K (I put a finger between them), I, L, pinky on enter.
 
They never taught us to do it properly in school, so I am typing in some bastard way that is neither efficient nor ergonomic. I should probably force myself to do proper touch technique one of these days. While it would slow me down initially, I am sure I could probably double my typing speed if I kept at it. I already can find any key without looking at the keyboard, it's just that I under utilize my fingers and rely too much on hand movement.

Touch screen typing on the other hand can just die. I'm always writing the shortest possible messages whenever I have to reply to a text.
 
NoblesseOblige said:
So I work IT in a school district and probably have to assist at least a dozen different people on any given day. These range from teachers to PhD level Psychologists and Speech pathologists, to business administrators, to the occasional student (I work primarily in an admin building). Regardless of their level of computer competency I notice very few people actually are touch typing. I don't mean having to glance down once to orient one's hands to the keys (though really they shouldn't require that either), but instead people who have to stare at their keyboard as they type. I was under the impression touch typing was sort of taught everywhere. I know it was drilled into me throughout grade school.

So GAF, is the teaching of touch typing just not as common as I thought? Or do people just abandon it after school? Or am I just a freak who spent too much time with MMOs in my youth so I can efficiently touch type like it's nobody's business?
Click to expand...

I work in an IT company and touch typing is even rare here.
 
We learned it in high school... but I had learned to type long before that, probably at 7 or 8 years old on a Commie 64.

Shit's not that hard.
 
I specifically took a word processing class in high school that taught touch typing. It was in no way required but it helped me incredibly in terms of typing skills. I think my niece learned some computer skills in her 5th grade class last year, but I'm not sure how well she can touch type.
 
Everyone I knew in law school could type at a fairly proficient level. I just took a test. I can type at about 60 wpm. It's not fast, but it's more than enough to get by in an office setting. I can't imagine having a deadline to get a memo out and sitting there struggling with the keyboard to get it out.

I feel like most fields with writing deadlines have people who touch type... because, you know... procrastination and such.
 
I was never really taught in any professional setting or even in school, but I taught myself to touch type reasonably accurately. I tend to glance down if I need the backspace key or something because I'm on different keyboards all day, but usually once I sit down to type I don't need to worry about it much.
 
jerry113 said:
Where are you guys finding out your WPM? Some online test?
Click to expand...

Yeah, there are tons of them online. Just Google for them. Usually just a bunch of random words to type for a minute or so with some basic feedback on when you're done with a word or have made an error. You usually get both WPC and CPM in the results (and a high score, to make you feel bad).
 
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