On touch typing

by Kwong

Having only gotten my first personal computer at the age of 13, I can be considered a late adopter. Fortunately, by the time I got my first PC, I was already proficient with working the keyboard thanks to my involvement in my primary school’s Computer Club. I still recall what the practices were like: progressively typing letters away from the home row while maintaining the “left hand on ASDF, right hand on JKL; keys” position.

And so I learned how to touch type without knowing I was actually doing so as it was something the teacher had made us do twice every week religiously. I guess at my current age I can look back and appreciate what that particular teacher had done for me. I currently average around 90WPM and my record stands at 124WPM. I’m sure there are others out there who can do better, but that’s good enough for me since my mind can never seem to catch up with my fingers at a constant pace.

Recently, I discovered that my wrists would start to hurt after many hours of typing. This greatly affected my work output as it meant having to deal with the ache, resulting in incoherent thoughts and general lack of ideas due to said pain. I decided to do something about this and started experimenting with different wrist positions while typing —  well, just 3 actually.

1. Rested wrists (what I usually do)

2. “Chinese Zombie” (arms straight, finger tips facing down, wrists unsupported)

3. Pianist (Go figure)

I tried each of them on three different days and came to the conclusion that the “Pianist” way of typing provides best comfort for prolonged use and the “Chinese Zombie” method the worst. In fact, the Pianist method feels more natural and I can now proudly say I’ve found a winning formula that works for me!