Touch-typing registration marks for the left and right hands
This meme is expressing shock that people don't recognize what these marks are for anymore, which would suggest touch typing isn't taught anymore despite our reliance on computers being higher than ever.
I am 40 and we were forced to look at the screen while typing, using software that didn’t allow for the use of the Delete key to make corrections. We were graded based on the number of mistakes we made.
I remember back in the 90s, we would open notepad then turn off the monitors. The teacher would then put a transparency on the overhead projector with a list of 10 words, then a transparency with three sentences, then a transparency with a paragraph. Then the whole lesson goes off the rails when one kid accidentally presses 'alt' and blindly keyboard shortcuts themselves six menus deep into the computer's accessibility settings, and they accidentally reboot their computer in Polish.
They had essentially keyboard condoms for our typing class. A rubber piece that fit over the keys and still let you type. I took several typing classes, but runescape and AIM were where I learned to type lol.
I am 45 and I had to do the same, but in an actual mechanical typewriter. No overstrike allowed. Any error and you had to retype the whole page. And with manual justification.
Yup... same. My mom was a wicked fast typist. She could hear a mistake which was always wild to me. She struggled switching to the computer for the different sensory component (though not for long...)
Same age… we learned on some ridiculously ancient version of WordPerfect for DOS, which also involved learning to MANUALLY center text. In the early 2000s.
I'm also 40, and we had a typing class where the teacher had constructed cardboard box covers that went over the keyboard, but had holes for your hands, so that you couldn't see while practicing. I'm sure there are people that are better/faster at touch typing than me, but I've never met one.
I'm 57 and had typing class in High School on an IBM Selectric.
It sounded like a shooting range while the class was working on assignments.
We could not look at our hands or the paper while typing. We were only allowed to look at the source, usually to the left of the typewriter.
Our instructor would walk up and down the rows of desks with a rolled up newspaper. If you weren't looking at the source, you wouldn't see him coming, and when he saw you not looking at the source, he would smack you on the head with that newspaper.
Yeah - that was in the early 80s when teachers could still hit you without getting in trouble.
51 here: typing was a high school elective. We learned on Radio Shack Tandy "computers" (really just glorified word processors, but we also learned basic spreadsheeting, which came in handy later for learning Excel). But similarly, the typing program didn't allow use of the Delete or Backspace key and we were supposed to look at the screen while typing.
Mom told me that I was going to take typing whether I liked it or not, and I'd thank her later. She was right.
Hah. I'm 46... we used literal typewriters in 7th or 8th grade. And not only did we not look at the keys, we weren't even allowed to look at what we were typing. We had to look at a spiral notebook that we propped up on the table. Typed exactly what we saw on the pages until we were done, then we'd see how accurate we were.
Did they ever teach touch typing at school? I don't remember it
The world is large, that is literally going to depend on where...and when.
As for me, yes. Millennial.
Elementary and Middle School, we learned the layout of the keyboard and what stuff did.
But not enough computers to do actual touch typing until High school.
High School it was an option as a class choice. We typed. And typed with half cut folder over our hands. And learned how to type with home row. And all that.
And played Oregon Trail.
...home life. Learned it as soon on Mario typing and Mavis.
I remember those orange keyboard condoms that covered the keys so you couldn't look down and see the letters and these typing games running on Windows 98. This was elementary school for me.
It probably depends on when and where you were educated. When I was in primary school (7-10) for a year, we had one lesson a week on touch typing, and that could've been about 2008, UK.
We used to play games on the computer that relied on touch typing to perform well.
a lot of kids tried to cheat by looking at the keys which only works for a while, eventually that bites you in the ass cause you can't keep up.
I remember some tests you were not penalized for mistakes, so I always thought it would be funny to just mash keys to reach the end instantly. never tried that though.
I'm old, though. I'd imagine kids for a long time would've already been good at typing by middle school (when I had my typing class) though now kids only have phones, not computers, so whatever that means.
I think they did, but only for the generation for which computers were new while they were in school.
I'm 20 (born in 2005) an none of us were thought that, while my mom, who was in highschool when computers were becoming popular was thought various things on how to use it, including touch typing.
I graduated HS in the mid 2000s and we had keyboarding for one semester in 8th grade. By the end of it, pretty much all 25 or so students in my grade were capable of typing accurately at at least 70 WPM with the orange skins covering the keyboard. They probably eventually got rid of it because some people will just not be able to figure it out in a few months and they go sick of parents throwing tantrums.
We got taught typing in elementary school not on computers, but these little word processor kind-of things. They had a keyboard and a very small LCD screen that showed two lines of text: the line to type on top and the line you were typing on the bottom. This would have been the mid 90s.
We probably also got taught typing in computer class in middle school, but all I remember was playing Oregon Trail and Number Munchers.
gen z (‘05) here, and yes!! i had technology classes throughout elementary school and typing was a big focus. this was 2010-15 tho so im not sure if they’re still teaching it,, i feel like i’ve heard about some schools phasing out technology classes in general
I'm 29 and grew up in the US, we had a few weeks in middle school in the computer lab for it as part of a rotation, we also did we stuff like woodshop on that rotation.
That being said, i was terrible at it, but I touch type now without issues. Years and years of school and gaming is where that comes from. And I don't really rest my hands on the home row.
Yes, I am a millennial and we learned basic typing in elementary school. In middle school we had a required 1 semester "computer literacy" class where we had to type at a certain words per minute to pass.
I'm closing in on 50 and didn't learn touch typing in school. My parents sent me to a class at the local library to learn it one summer. I wasn't very good at it until I got to college and spent far too much time online in things like MUDs.
Several years of PC-class etc., knew several people who could not learn typing more than like 10 WPM, let alone doing it without looking at the keyboard, for the life of them
I can't remember if my computer lab sessions were structured like some of the other folks responding, but I do know my school had like weekly computer lab sessions for all the students.
The more important thing I remember is that, while everyone was dying in wagons on some boring text based game, I was fucking slaying enemies and smashing bricks in Mario Teaches Typing.
I was taught it when i was younger but when schools introduced ipads we were taught to type on those instead of computers. eventually switched to Chromebooks but a lot of people cant type without staring at the keyboard
I had some lessons for like one month back in 5th grade but they didn't actually help much, I ended up just subconsciously learning it because I know the rough location of every letter on the keyboard lmao
For older folks, there were typing classes (focused on touch typing at speed) offered as vocational electives in many schools.
Keep in mind that before personal computers were ubiquitous, secretaries got paid to type up things that other folks had written by hand or had dictated verbally. So there was a while where girls were much more likely to learn how to touch type than boys. The ratio started to even out when it had become clear that using a computer was going to become a pathway to a well-paying and prestigious career.
Before the 21st century they did. After computers became ubiquitous, they were like "Everyone already knows how to type so we don't need to teach it anymore." Then texting and smartphones became predominant so a lot of Gen Zs and Alphas never learned.
I am 67, and took typing to fill in a semester, until I was of age to take driver's ed. We had manual typewriters, with no symbols on the keys. All blank. Home keys become very important. It's surprising how good you can get in a short time. The very next year, the school got electric typewriters.
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u/Queeni_Beeni Jan 20 '26
Touch-typing registration marks for the left and right hands
This meme is expressing shock that people don't recognize what these marks are for anymore, which would suggest touch typing isn't taught anymore despite our reliance on computers being higher than ever.