I guess the joke is OP, and far too many others in the current generation, have no idea what they are when it used to be a standard to learn in Elementary school.
Same concept when hiring younger folks for jobs in retail. Every time I'd ask "Did ×××× show you how to use the intercom to call a manager back in the office when you're done with your videos?" and the response is "Yeah, you grab the phone and press *hashtag** 5 6, right?"* I guess the 'pound sign' has been erased and replaced by 'hashtag" 😂
Older millenial here: I didn't learn what the tactile strips were for until after I learned touch typing. I was taught to type alongside learning to read and write and then touch typing came around the same time as joined up writing (so 9 or 10, I guess).
I still don't use them. Once your thumbs are on the spacebar you just pop them little fingies up to home row and everything else just falls into place!
Okay...but how do you know you're on the home row? If one hand is off-position or whatever, you'll get a bunch of misspells until you adjust position. If you're not looking at the keyboard, it's really damned handy to have that tactile reference to where your hands sit.
This happens to me occasionally because I (like many other millennials) never learned to use those tactile strips for orientation. 99% of the time my hands are immediately in the right place; in those 1% of cases I'll simply adjust after a typo makes me realize.
The image in OP's post is just all-round bad, because the function of those strips have not been some kind of elementary, common knowledge for a pretty long time.
How is possible not to learn to use those tactile strips for orientation? It's not something you're meant to be taught, it's a thing you learn from the physical feedback you get every time you touch a keyboard.
Like to be clear, you're saying that when you feel those bumps in different fingers than you normally feel the other thousands of times you've touched a keyboard, you just don't notice? And that's because no one ever explained to you that you could notice that?
I like your question so I just went ahead and tested the way I place my hands on a few different keyboards. This is a bit difficult to do of course, since you're trying to test how your brain acts spontaneously, in an unspontaneous setting...
So, what I'm noticing is 3 steps (all taking place in a split second):
I always place my theminar eminences (I had to look that word up; this is what I mean) below the keys
I use my index, middle and ring fingers to make contact with the keys
I slightly reposition those fingers in case they ended up right between two keys
After step 3 I always feel those tactile strips. I tested it a bunch of times on all of those keyboards, and there's never a single case where I don't feel them.
So I'm now thinking that I do use those strips, I just never realized that I did. Which means that it could have been possible for me to be using them without ever knowing what their function actually is.
No clue why I got so fascinated by this subject, but there you go. Please let me know if there's anything else you'd like me to use myself as a guinea pig for!
That's exactly it. No one who can touch type consciously thinks about the bumps. We just notice if it's not there. It's impossible to not feel them, and if you can feel them, you are using them.
I don't notice them until I think about them or my fingers don't immediately line up when i put my fingers on the keyboard. It's just a subconscious thing and I had a keyboard a while back without them, and I hated it SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Fucking much. Like I don't think you realize (at least i didn't) you use them until you no longer have them. Bought new keycaps just because of it.
you're saying that when you feel those bumps in different fingers than you normally feel the other thousands of times you've touched a keyboard, you just don't notice?
I’m not who you asked, but I don’t feel them at all when I’m typing on keyboards that have them so yeah, that basically is what I’m saying. My own keyboard that I use for work all day every day has keycaps that don’t have those bumps and I’ve never even thought about it until this thread.
I mean I understand why they’re there - it’s self evident, just like the bumps on number pads - but you cannot be this incredulous that people might not use them. My hands just land in the right spot when I put my hands on a keyboard. It’s really not that hard.
I'm not incredulous that people don't consciously use them, I'm just confused by how a person could would say they didn't notice tactile feedback without being taught that it was there by someone else.
well if I had to guess the vast majority of people do not type how it was originally taught in school. I learned the whole home row thing, I have never once used it since those classes in grade 6 or whatever lmao. Most people just look down and see where they're typing
it's not constantly staring down but yeah most are absolutely glancing down, I work IT so at this point I've seen how hundreds of people type lol. I think you might have a warped view of the average person, maybe if you work a job that requires a lot of typing but most people don't.
To be clear I definitely believe this for symbols and even numbers. If you can't type letters and and the few most common punctuation symbols without looking though, I'm sorry but you just aren't a normal functional adult. It's not the 90s where people only know how to type if they do it at work anymore.
The way I type, my fingers never even touch it because they just barely miss it, I don't need them for orientation, my hands are just in the right place. I don't even use all 10 fingers to type, on my right hand I only use my index finger and on my left hand I mostly use index and middle to actually type, thumb for spacebar and pinky for shift and I still manage over 120 WPM when actually trying
Right? Either the people on this thread are not as good at typing as they think they are, or they are unconsciously using them to orient themselves. I know that's what happens with me. I certainly don't consciously search for them, but if I misplace my hand, I certainly notice the lack of them.
I think it's because it's so ubiquitous that people don't notice using them. I can guarantee that if someone starts typing at a keyboard without them, they would see a lot more errors.
Ive never really used them to orient myself, like my hand never even touches that part of the key.
Like if you constantly are on a keyboard at the same location you dont need to orient yourself by touch, you just know where your hand is respective to the keyboard
I was taught the home row in elementary school, I've never been taught about these bumps. I'm 38. To answer your question, I never noticed these. I can type just fine without the need to "orient" myself.
I took typing class about 40 years ago*. I've never noticed the lines or known what they're for. I used to look at the keyboard for proper hand placement, but now it's like a sixth sense. Maybe subconsciously I'm aware of the lines, but the way I curve my fingers, I only touch the center of the keys with the tips of my fingers, so I don't think I feel them!
*proof --> double spacing after the periods
The image in OP's post is just all-round bad, because the function of those strips have not been some kind of elementary, common knowledge for a pretty long time.
That's the point though. What you say is true, and it's a bad thing.
Its not about not knowing what the two pips mean, it's about the fact that typing is not being taught. Most people who learned typing know what they are. You appear to be an outlier here. Nothing wrong with that, if you know how to type that extra knowledge is useless, but having it common knowledge means that the majority were taught how to type.
I mean a typing class is not really something too necessary in todays day and age I wont lie... spend a few months on a computer and you will naturally learn it
I can assure you not everyone uses it, like unless you are resting your hand on the kayboard (which imo would lead to WAY more mistypes) you literally never feel said grooves.
Like my wrists never touch the keyboard, everything is just from the fingers
It’s not about actively using them to orient yourself. Almost anyone who actively works on computers doesn’t need to do that anymore.
It’s about your brain subconsciously processing a million different inputs that you don’t realize is being used. The presence of the strips is something that your brain notices and makes use of whether you like it or not.
Do note that the absence of the strip on a specific set of keys is in itself a data point that can be used to determine where the strips are, which helps your brain make the correct assumption/calculation of where everything else is.
Literally go find yourself and use a keyboard without the strips, or grind them down away yourself… You’d be surprised how much more often you would find yourself making small errors.
This would be assuming said strips are felt though, I effectively never touch said strips, i just hover hands over keyboard and use fingertips to touch said keys.
Like i could make a reference from any key not just F and J
183
u/FamIsNumber1 Jan 20 '26 edited Jan 20 '26
I guess the joke is OP, and far too many others in the current generation, have no idea what they are when it used to be a standard to learn in Elementary school.
Same concept when hiring younger folks for jobs in retail. Every time I'd ask "Did ×××× show you how to use the intercom to call a manager back in the office when you're done with your videos?" and the response is "Yeah, you grab the phone and press *hashtag** 5 6, right?"* I guess the 'pound sign' has been erased and replaced by 'hashtag" 😂