1. GingerCoffee

    GingerCoffee Web Surfer Girl Contributor

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    Can you type without looking?

    Discussion in 'The Lounge' started by GingerCoffee, May 5, 2015.

    It pleases me to type without looking. I wondered if anyone else ever did the same just for fun?

    My son has a keyboard with no letters on it. That's what made me think about it.
     
  2. VirtuallyRealistic

    VirtuallyRealistic Active Member

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    I can type without looking, but I've been using computers daily since I was 8-10 years old. We had required typing class from 3rd-5th grade. Since then I've had a strong affinity towards computers, spending about 8-10 hours a day on one. Whether that be programming, writing, or just browsing.

    I can type at about 90-100 words per minute now.
     
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  3. Unit7

    Unit7 Contributor Contributor

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    It always amuses me when I become aware of being able to type with out looking. It's one of those small things that just seems absurd and amazing. At least in the first few moments of becoming aware of it. What adds to this is the fact that I doubt I could actually label a keyboard without cheating.

    Actually I am on my iphone and realizes for the most part I don't need to look at the keys. Though I guess I am sorta have a glimpse of it. When I first got it I never really thought I would get the hang of typing to this degree.
     
  4. KaTrian

    KaTrian A foolish little beast. Contributor

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    Yeah, I typed this without looking. But I can't type with my phone without looking. I can hardly type with looking. :p
     
  5. ChaosReigns

    ChaosReigns Ov The Left Hand Path Contributor

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    i'm certainly not the fastest person out there, but i can do it. in fact it was because of my writing that i was able to be able to do it at any speed. although having been able to use a computer since i was 3 (which was 18 years ago, damn thats a long time) might have actually helped me. i do make errors and have a sticky space bar but that isn't anything to worry about.
     
  6. jannert

    jannert Retired Mod Supporter Contributor

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    Yes, I can type without looking. I watch the screen instead of my hands. I do look for certain symbols and marks of punctuation, though. They vary from keyboard to keyboard. I never trusted my typing enough to do it while I was still using a typewriter, though. Damn, I hated making mistakes that actually needed to be erased! This delete/backspace thingy is a skoosh.
     
  7. ChaosReigns

    ChaosReigns Ov The Left Hand Path Contributor

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    skoosh?
     
  8. jannert

    jannert Retired Mod Supporter Contributor

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    very easy... a piece of cake....
     
  9. ChaosReigns

    ChaosReigns Ov The Left Hand Path Contributor

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    you learn something new every day! cheers :)
     
  10. plothog

    plothog Contributor Contributor

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    Mostly. Occasionally my hand becomes misaligned.
    Hitting caps lock insteD OF THE LETTER YOU MEnt to hit is irritating.
     
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  11. Lemex

    Lemex That's Lord Lemex to you. Contributor

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    Yes, I can. I find it very easy, actually.
     
  12. Shadowfax

    Shadowfax Contributor Contributor

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    I taught myself when in my 40s. My wife told me where the "home" keys were, and I just made a point of not looking (God bless that back-space key!).

    I remember a colleague standing watching at my doorway when I'd only been learning (on the job) for a couple of weeks, and saying "I can type as fast as that" and walking smugly away.
     
  13. Lancie

    Lancie Senior Member

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    Yes, I can. Although strangely I find when I switch from my smaller work laptop to my own laptop which has a larger keyboard it takes me a few minutes to readjust. Typos galore.
     
  14. obsidian_cicatrix

    obsidian_cicatrix I ink, therefore I am. Contributor

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    No. I can't but I reckon it'll not be long. My eyesight is rapidly failing and I'm having trouble keeping up with prescriptions. It's not uncommon for me to get a pm and have to answer before I get a chance to don my specs, and even when I do I can see sod all anyway.) I've tried to learn to touch type before but gave up, my old habits too hard to break, or so I thought. Without glasses I can't make out one key from the other so it looks like, in the end, I'll be touch-typing out of sheer necessity until the macular degeneration starts to slow.

    That's what I get for having worked in darkness for a decade.
     
  15. ChaosReigns

    ChaosReigns Ov The Left Hand Path Contributor

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    for your photography writing or job? (probably all three)

    i have crap eyesight as it is. severe astigmatism in my left eye and a minor one in my right, means that i cant get laser eye surgery (cause such things don't exist for people like me) and with contact lenses i go ridiculously short sighted. (like i struggle to read anything its that bad)... *sighs* so yep, i have to don specs for everyf***ingthing
     
  16. Komposten

    Komposten Insanitary pile of rotten fruit Contributor

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    I can do it quite well, as long as I'm looking at my screen every now and then to ensure my hands are not a key misaligned. I'm also pretty good with a lot of special characters because of my programming so I generally don't have to look down even for those.

    As for my phone, I can kinda type without looking, but that's only because I "swype" rather than type.
     
  17. GingerCoffee

    GingerCoffee Web Surfer Girl Contributor

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    That looks intriguing. I did not know such an ap existed. So does it work with more complex writing, or just the basic things one might text?
     
  18. Komposten

    Komposten Insanitary pile of rotten fruit Contributor

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    I've only used it for chats, texts and forum posts, but it should work for anything as long as the words you're trying to type are in the dictionary. It's like a normal keyboard, after all (and the keyboard is still usable as a keyboard).
     
  19. B93

    B93 Active Member

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    By a stroke of luck I took typing class in high school in 1967, thinking that I might want to type papers in college. I was one of two or three guys in a class of twenty. Little did I know how the world would change to make that an indispensable computer skill.
     
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  20. matwoolf

    matwoolf Banned Contributor

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    iits dv;;dy esy du to type wjkpioiyu ;lookkotioium
     
  21. m.j.kane

    m.j.kane Member

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    And would you believe I had convinced myself I was the only person in the world with this talent?

    I guess I'll try juggling or something.
     
  22. minstrel

    minstrel Leader of the Insquirrelgency Supporter Contributor

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    I can type without looking. I often type while watching TV. Eyes on the TV screen, fingers on the keyboard, just trusting experience to get the letters right. Sometimes I have to backspace a lot, though! :p

    I also play my electric guitar with my eyes closed. Whenever I'm soloing, my eyes just seem to close of their own accord. I have no idea where my fingers are. I just think i play better when I'm not watching myself. ;)
     
  23. TheWingedFox

    TheWingedFox Banned

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    I wish I could touch type, but I think now it's too late, because I've got used to how I type. I think I'm slow...I always need to look down at the keys, or end up usually hitting caps lock and having to retread. But because it's become so integral to work, I type fast. Last week, my colleague said I was typing so fast I looked like a CIA operative!

    I heard that Dick King Smith only typed with one finger, on an old typewriter, even after the advent of word processors. And if that is how Babe came about, there is hope fOR ME YET! DAMN!:bigsmile:
     
  24. GingerCoffee

    GingerCoffee Web Surfer Girl Contributor

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    I would bet you'd be surprised that you don't need to look as often as you do look. Try it.

    There are some keys in the outer realms I do have to look at. That's why we keep hitting the caps lock key. I cross s and d, ; and ', and o and p on a regular basis. And hitting the center of the keyboard I make more errors as well. But what is interesting to me is not that I learned how to type without looking, because I made no effort to do so. What is interesting is finding my fingers just know where the letters are without my thinking about anything except the letter I want to type.
     
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  25. ChaosReigns

    ChaosReigns Ov The Left Hand Path Contributor

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    this is what happens when i don't have my glasses on, i suppose, because i have got so used to touch typing its has become second nature with or without glasses, right id best go find them so i can see what the hel i am doing!
     

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