Is Typing Ruining Your Ability To Spell?

NSN A392-99-964-5927 writes "My handwriting abilities have deteriorated over the years. Putting a real pen to paper, I get frustrated over how to spell correctly, as I am so accustomed to using a keyboard and knowing where the letters are. Having spoken to a few friends, I've found that this has become apparent to them, too. I've noticed that my grammar is also affected; maybe this is because I spent too much time on IRC and lowered my standards. Hand-written words are now becoming obsolete. There is often no need to think about writing anymore, or about how something is spelled. Are other Slashdotters having the same problem? (I'm used to Telex machines, which should give you an indication of how old I am.)"

Comments

No

[GroundBounce]

Typing has definitely reduced my ability to hand write quickly and legibly, but not my ability to spell. I think spelling has been affected more by the fact that I write much less now than a long time ago.

Re:I don't know, but...

[VoyagerRadio]

That's why I've always maintained correct/proper capitalization and grammar and compete sentences, even in IMs and IRC chats. In fact, it actually slows me down when I have to purposely corrupt a text message in order to reduce its size (such as on Twitter or SMS).

Is this a confession?

[joocemann]

What is the point of this confession or whatever it seems to be? Do you want my attention? Do you want me to agree with you? I don't... I've been typing and using the interwebz for about 14 years now with plenty of IRC, 1337 speak, and degenerate behavior --- and in all that I have maintained my cognitive capacity to recognize the difference between the variants and the proper.

I think your problem (if you feel there is any, such as an employer wondering why you write like a 12 year old), probably stems from the lack of regard for your variance as 'variance', and embracing that way too often, if not completely, as a way of life.

In excess, nearly anything can be problematic. Maintain a balance between work and play; in this case having a deliberate regard for maintaining both your interwebz-bs-style and your proper-for-work-and-standards style.

What I mean is... you need to actually give a shit about what you're doing. Degenerate yourself for fun, but not for habit.

Re:FingerWorks TouchStream

[Bandman]

I'm pretty sure I would stab that keyboard in short order. Unless it knows unix commands, of course.

Re:I don't know, but...

[James McP]

Typing is muscle memory just like playing music. Guitarists don't consciously think "E-G-A-E-G-B/A-E-G-E-E-G" any more than a typist thinks "s-m-o-k-e- -o-n- -t-h-e- -w-a-t-e-r". (Well, bassists might but we're known to be pretty dense.)

I actually had trouble typing the hyphenated parts as my hands initially would spell out the whole words.

Have you never had a case where your fingers know your password but you don't? Happens to me all the time.