There is just one skill that I have that I want to pass on to my children*.
Typing.
Back when I was a junior in an advertising agency they paid for me to do a speed touch-typing course. Which I hated. Mostly because I suspected they had already written me off as a really shite copywriter and were funneling me into the typing pool.
But I was wrong.
Even in 1990, back in the dark ages before the internet or email was even a twinkle in a fax’s i, those good folk seemed to know that typing skills were going to come in really, really handy no matter where my career led me.
They were so bloody right they were almost left.
To this day my 100+ WPM (with about 6% accuracy, but let’s not go there) touch typing skills have been the backbone of everything I’ve accomplished. Whether it was hammering out a 7,500 word essay through the night before a due date because, yes, I’m that big a procrastinator; or racing against a deadline at work to get an important email out the door whilst simultaneously watching Oprah on the flatscreen; or visiting and saying hello to over 100 blogs in the space of about 2 hours all up the other day; my speedy gonzales typing has always seen me through.
I’m fully intending to enrol those Tsunamis of mine in a touch typing course as soon as they can… ah, write. Soon we’ll probably all be using that (very long promised) voice recognition typing thingy anyway, but I don’t care. A typing course will always be an important investment in their future. They won’t look back. They’ll be so 99.9% accurate they won’t need to!
* Oh, okay, that’s probably selling myself a bit short but then again…
[I found this image here ages ago but the credit no longer clicks through…]
Just Martha says
One of my regrets in not learning to type and whilst at the time the teacher seemed to be a bit of a dragon and there were horror stories of kids not being able to ‘look’ at their hands whilst doing a test (!), it is definitely a skill I wish I had. My Sister (who did typing at school a-n-d helped to spread those horror stories) sometimes comments when I am using the computer that she ‘has never seen thumbs being used quite like that on a keyboard’. Oh the superiority!!! Grrr. note to self: do a touch typing course. Do they still offer them I wonder?
Kate says
I guess this answers one of my questions about how you manage to keep up with so much blog reading and commenting. I on the other hand am a pretty crap one or two comments an hour. Sloooooooooow typer. Better go and do something I’m actually good at like knitting a few rows.
Karen Wilson says
Well according to a quick online test my adjusted speed is 78wpm, but that’s without having used it properly for ages, without proper posture and trying to go my absolute fastest so making more mistakes π
You can get lots of practice doing free online classes I think. We learnt at school. That’s what the ‘computing’ course was at my all girls school. I mainly picked up my speed when I was doing a lot of dictaphone work, so didn’t have to read what I was typing, just hear, and the brain can hear faster than it can read I think.
One of the things I find amazing about touch typing is that my fingers know how to spell words that my brain doesn’t. Sometimes if I touchtype my password I can’t two finger type it because I don’t actually know what the word is any more I just know the finger combination.
Diminishing Lucy says
My Dad suggested to me, at the tender age of twelve, that if I could touch type, sell, or pull pints, that I would never be out of a job. I can turn my hand to all three, and have never been short of a job.
I learned to type at school. The teacher was a heavy smoker. She would be horrified if she could see the length of my fingernails – which are the fault of all my typos….
Me 'N My Monkeys says
I’m a slow typer, i don’t know what my speed is.
If i want to be accurate i have to type slow, if i was to type fast you wouldn’t even be able to pronounce my words thats how messed up they would be lol..
Tai Tai says
I’ve no idea!!! But I think I’m pretty quick. Accuracy may be the problem. There’s a LOT of backspacing in my life. My mum went to Secretarial school and always blew me away when she was on a typewriter or computer, so I have to say, I was inspired to get it right!! It’s quite satisfying being able to whack out a few sentences on the lappy while also having a good perve at Don Draper…. x
Miss Pink says
Never done a course or anything, but i like to think i can type pretty fast. Certainly not 100 WPM, but i type as fast, if not faster than my sister who have a cert IV in business management and financial services. I thank my addiction to the internet to that. Lol.
Gemma @ My Big Nutshell says
I love to tippy-tappy fast. I haven’t done a test in years but it feels good to be speedy as it nearly catches up with my mind that runs a million miles an hour!
Deer Baby says
Great post! My mother insisted I learn to type – as ‘something to fall back on’ and I resisted and resisted. The thought of secretarial college filled me with dread. I wish I’d listened to her! It was only when I went to journalism college, age 27, that I realised I really, really needed it. And I had to learn pretty fast. That and shorthand. That will never be fast.
Alice Becomes says
I wouldn’t know how fast I type, about whatever is considered and average WPM? I remember doing it in school and it was my least favorite subject.
100 comments in 2 hours! Wow, so you must read fast as well?! I am not sure how many comments I make, I might try and keep track next time, just out of interest
I love the image with this post
Gill xo
deux chiens et un garcon says
I am dyslexic in my typing.
Oh I think you are going to win. I can feel it in my bones.
jill x
Kerry says
I learned to type a million years ago on a very old, very big typewriter when I was in the Army! I completely agree with you about it being a very necessary skill. It hurts my eyes when I see people typing with two fingers…one on each hand!
Mama of 2 boys says
I type about as fast as I speak… a good pace I feel. I’ve never done a typing course per se, but I do enjoy it and agree that it’s a great skill to have under your belt.
You were going hammer and tongs on the blogs then, you left a lovely long message on mine which would have eaten into a fair bit of that commenting time!
Posie Patchwork says
As someone who spent 6 years at Uni doing science degrees, typing was not exactly the biggest part of my day (no essays) BUT i taught myself how to touch type at Grace Bros, as a data entry gal. Oh joy, how incredibly handy. My children have Typing Tutor programmes on their laptops but really, it’s practise, they can email & write stories, go nuts so long as they are learning those keys!!
I will say this though, i don’t find men being able to touch type at all sexy, i love that my husband is still a two finger typer!! Sure my son is in a different generation where it’s completely weird not to be able to touch type, then again, i’m his spell check??
As for Kerry above, we inherited one of those big old Army typewriters, i love it!! But touch typing, not for my soldier, leave his fingers for speedy triggers not keypads. Love Posie
Glen says
It depends on how excited I am about what I’m writing.
generally I can knock out four or five words a minute! If I’m really in a rush or excited then I bring in my other typing finger – and then things really hot up.
Your kids won’t need to touch type – all they will need is thumbs. Time moves on.
MomAgain@40 says
I learnt to type on a manual typewriter yeeeaaars ago (when I started to work), and up until today I can’t really type! But I can go very fast, irritating my co-workers endlessly. Yes, they have told me so, but I can’t help that I tend to push in the keys too hard!
A typing course is a must-have. I agree!
Shelley says
I learnt to touch type in Grade Four, and never looked back. It served me well in my years in the media transcribing interviews and monitoring talkback radio. Even seven years out of the game I can still type over 100wpm. I rate it as my best skill. xx
jody says
wow that is very impressive! i wish i had have done something like that. Although i feel i am not too bad at typing, i am definatley not that quick. Though give me a photo to edit any day and it will be done in a flash π
IAMJOROSS says
Im an average typist. Still enhancing my skills on it. π
Marion Williams-Bennett says
Oh, I feel like you.. I can type super fast, but accurate? Maybe not so much!
I wonder what our kinds will use for typing? Will the old QWERTY keyboard make it to the next decade? Can we ever really replace this?
β₯Beryllium Lithium Class of 2011 says
Yeah, I can touch type. We had to learn in primary school.
My favourite key is backspace. I make so many mistakes while typing though, that most of the time I’m not even aware that I’m using the backspace key anymore.
Still, it’s better than some of my peers who type with some of their fingers or just their index fingers… and we’re teenagers. Kinda embarrassing considering that we were practically born into a technological world π
Also, I wish I had a typewriter… apparently the last ever manufacturer of typewriters closed sometime this year. Pity.
Abbie says
I have always enjoyed typing. My skills are ok.
Good for you to pass on the knowledge to the next generation!!
Anita says
My Mum learnt to type in secretary’s college (back in the day!) She insisted that it would be good for my sister and I to learn (possibly my brother too but he’s a bit younger so I’m not sure) and we both learnt via at home typing tutor programs. We also had her old manual typewriter for a time (which she used for resume’s and the like before the age of Amiga computers π )
I don’t think I ever got above about 20wpm by the typing tutor, probably should’ve been more persistent. I did end up working in admin though and upped my typing speed to about 60wpm just through usage. I’ve not worked for too many years now though, I’ve no idea what my speed would be now and my accuracy is certainly abysmal!
Ms Styling You says
We had an extra subject in Year 9 – someone suggested typing (and yes it was on typewriters!). One of the best things I ever learned in school. Sitting four years later in my first journalism tutorial, we were told by our lecturer to “think” through our fingers. Years later, a chief of would send us off to write our stories, requesting “fingers like dancing spiders” which roughly translated as “write bloody fast”! Still using that skill to this day and can’t imagine a time that I won’t.
Hi I'm Rhonda. says
I took a typing course in middle school…most boring thing ever, but boy am I glad that I have the QWERTY keyboard memorized! I type around 90 WPM and I’m faily accurate! Like you it allows me to do all kinds of things quickly which gives me more time to procrastinate!
trudi@maudeandme says
I;m ectrenely farst but not sire avuot my acuracy1
Andrea says
Yes, Yes Yes,who’d a thunk that goddamnawful class would have proved so useful. I’m no where near the 100wpm mark (I can’t even think that fast), but it is definately a skill i am grateful for!!
Michelle @ The Crafty Little Fox says
Hmm… not sure how fast I type. School taught me touch typing and I have used it ever since. I don’t think I was that good at school but definitely got better as I got older. Useful skill though I will admit. I could type my blogpost over my fat kitty’s bottom when he sat on me last night.
mel @ loved says
I loved the old typewriter, though I was terrified of our teacher! I’m afraid I’m not the gratest typer, I’m fairly quick but I can’t do it without looking, so I guess if a job criteria was dependant on touch typing I’d fail miserably..x
Sammie says
How I wish I had learnt to type.
I wish I had of listened in class and done what I was supposed to.
I frustrates me every day.
therhythmmethod says
I love typing. I’m about 90 wpm, fairly accurate, less so with 3 kids hanging off me. I learned to type at school, then polished up my skills as a uni student and receptionist. It’s been invaluable for me. I also just love the feel of keys beneath my fingers, and the ticky-tap rhythm of fast typing.
ms. freelancer says
Typing is an art. The position of the fingers must be precise. I maybe fast but I’d love to know the proper way.
Happy click-clacking! =)
Jodi Gibson says
I remember we did touch typing in school in year 9 and 10. Everyone hated it, but I loved it. I would take the book home and practice on my Mum’s old fashioned typewriter, banging the keys and causing much racket.
It has been the one skill that has helped me undoubtedly!
I am approx 90 wpm with pretty good accuracy (except when there is a child on my lap!!)
MummyK says
They forced us to take typing class for one semester in uni. I hated that class! But now I’m like a super typer! My hand hurts when I write with a pen though.
Tas says
Heh, heh, Click clack in this house means knitting π I did “learn” to type at school. The quick brown fox and all that. But it is only since joining the blogging world and a forum or two in the past 2 years that has made me teach myself to sort of touch type. My kids want to eat, breathe and sleep with their computer so I am guessing at some point they too will learn.
-- SARAH -- says
Loved this post! I don’t actually know how fast I can type… I’m going to be ridiculous and say it actually depends on how cold my fingers are… no, really…
And I am a procrastinator too! In fact, even as I type this, I am avoiding a uni assignment due Friday…
Touch typing is such a great skill to have, especially given the technological (*is this a word?? I use it frequently, so I’m going to go with it…) age we live in.
Sarah
vanessawith3 says
I learnt touch typing in year 9, on old typewriters. It is a great skill and I am pretty quick but I must say, my homme and 12 year old are super quick and accurate using four fingers too. I have stopped harping on with my kids to use the correct fingers. At least they use both hands. I shut up when the dexterity of their left hands on their violins left me for dead.
Lene says
I taught myself to type on my parents ancient and very tempermental typewriter. It didn’t like the letter “P” and so therefore would never type it. My speed is pretty average and my accuracy? Terrible! I always have to go back and double check everything!
Sarah @ Momalom says
I’m such a geek–and fondly remember doing the touch-typing course in Comp Sci classes in elementary school and then junior high. I took the software home and would practice those tests over and over and over again. There was something about the repetitiveness, the sound of the keys, the control I could gain over the keyboard. Well, something like that. Maybe I’m just anal. Probably that, too.
Catherine says
100 wpm? Are you serious? I can’t even verbalise 100 wpm!
In the old days when I was in highschool typing class was for people who were not going on to college. I felt vastly superior for not taking it. Now I am the world’s fastest hunt and peck typist.
And no joke, I have 2 books from the library right now on learning to type. Pride goeth before a fall!!
nadinewrites108 says
My typing skills are passable (I have typed an entire book, after all), but the problem for my lies in the fact that no matter how swiftly my fingers sweep over the keys, my brain goes faster. In fact my brain tends to go so quickly into so many directions that I would need to be one of those twelve-limbed Hinu Gods just to keep up!
nadinewrites108 says
My typing skills are passable (I have typed an entire book, after all), but the problem for my lies in the fact that no matter how swiftly my fingers sweep over the keys, my brain goes faster. In fact my brain tends to go so quickly into so many directions that I would need to be one of those twelve-limbed Hindu Gods just to keep up!
Silver Threads of Happiness says
I just did an online typing test too, geez it’s been years since I’ve done one of them. (68.8 wpm apparently)
I learnt to touch type in Year 7. Mum decided that seeing as I was taking Computing at a private girl’s school the following year that I should learn to touch type. She bought me some touch typing computer program and I quite enjoyed it, probably because I liked reading and spelling and this was just a continuation on from that.
I never really picked up doing it with all fingers though. I don’t really use my little fingers or my ring finger on my right hand. I’m quite happy with the speed I do though and I don’t need to look at the keyboard. Years as a teenager using mIRC/MSN honed the skill for sure, and blogging keeps it all fresh!
Jodie Ansted says
You know, I took typing in high school. My typing is a pretty good speed, but I can’t remember now just how fast! I think my last test was maybe 110 wpm and 95% accuracy? Maybe? I really couldn’t tell you. Ah, the old memory is not quite as quick…
My husband never had a typing lesson in his life, but he types rather fast for a two-finger typist! All those years writing reports and the like, I guess.
π x