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From: mlandau@Diamond.BBN.COM (Matt Landau)
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Re: Input device
Message-ID: <3478@slate.Diamond.BBN.COM>
Date: Tue, 20-Jan-87 16:00:40 EST
Article-I.D.: slate.3478
Posted: Tue Jan 20 16:00:40 1987
Date-Received: Wed, 21-Jan-87 22:19:43 EST
References: <1191@ucbcad.berkeley.edu> <191@its63b.ed.ac.uk>
Reply-To: mlandau@Diamond.BBN.COM (Matt Landau)
Organization: BBN Laboratories, Inc., Cambridge, MA
Lines: 29

In comp.misc (article <1145@rti-sel.UUCP>), rcb@rti-sel.UUCP (Random) writes:
>Some of the discussions here lately made me think of an interesting question.
>
>	Do people who use a keyboard almost exclusively (like programmers
>	who don't work with paper if they can avoid it) begin to forget
>	who to write with a pencil/pen, or get worse at it?

I don't know about forgetting how to write longhand (I presume you didn't mean
that using a keyboard causes you to forget who [sic] to write to!), but I find
that using a keyboard certainly does have an effect on my handwriting.

Mostly this is because I can type much faster than I can write, especially
given the liberty of backspacing to correct mistakes.  I find that when I
write longhand, I tend to make more spelling mistakes, and that the mistakes
generally involve leaving out letters or parts of letters (you know, the wrong
number of humps on a longhand 'm', for instance).

I suspect that the speed at which I compose text -- i.e., think about what to
say -- is attuned to the speed at which I can type it on a Sun3 keyboard, and
that writing longhand I literally think about what I'm saying faster than my
hands can get it down on paper.  I've noticed the same effect, although to a
lesser degree, when typing on an unfamiliar keyboard.  The differences in
layout, key pressure, etc. slow me down just enough that I can't type as fast
as I'm thinking anymore.
-- 
 Matt Landau				mlandau@diamond.bbn.com
 BBN Laboratories, Inc.		     ...seismo!diamond.bbn.com!mlandau

 "Yow!  Maybe we could paint GOLDIE HAWN a RICH PRUSSIAN BLUE..."