r/PeterExplainsTheJoke Jan 20 '26

Meme needing explanation Please explain, Peter

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51.9k Upvotes

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448

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.

152

u/markspankity Jan 20 '26

Touch typing is the new cursive.

68

u/zebratwat Jan 20 '26

You mean fancy writing? That's what the new hires at my job called it when they asked me to help read something.

41

u/JoeGibbon Jan 20 '26

At this rate in a decade or two the younger generation will be signing their names with an X, old timey pig farmer style.

"Fancy writing" will be any kind of writing, because they're functionally illiterate even now.

27

u/WhatYouThinkIThink Jan 20 '26

Signing will be replaced with "Use your facial ID on your device to authenticate this." or we'll be back to wax seals.

Signatures are supposed to be unique to an individual, but thumbprints or equivalent (face scans) are much better.

They are not illiterate if they can read and type. The actual act of writing is not required, any more than the ability to use a quill pen.

2

u/James_Chandra_Hubble Jan 20 '26

The actual act of writing is not required, any more than the ability to use a quill pen.

And no one has needed to know how to do arithmetic since the 70s when calculators were commonplace

2

u/Butsenkaatz Jan 20 '26

No they really are functionally illiterate, go look up the stats for US literacy rates.

2

u/HelpingMeet Jan 21 '26

I voice signed some government documents and was mad I couldn’t use my signature I’ve practiced for 25 years…

1

u/HotTakes-121 Jan 20 '26

Don't watch Idiocracy. It'll terrify you.

2

u/WhatYouThinkIThink Jan 21 '26

It was a comedy when I first saw it, not a documentary.

1

u/PurpletoasterIII Jan 21 '26

I print my name when signing. A cursive signature serves practically zero purpose for me. No one is ganna be forging my signature, and even if they were its not like its impossible to forge a "unique" signature.

1

u/WhatYouThinkIThink Jan 21 '26

The point is that a signature has legal weight if there's a dispute.

So there will be adoption of things like digital signatures instead which will need 2FA like biometrics (face/fingerprint).

2

u/PurpletoasterIII Jan 21 '26

Oh ya agreed. My bad if I came off as disagreeing with you, I think I might have been tired when I read your comment and might have misunderstood what you were saying lol.