How did you learn to type?

Born in 1990. I had toy laptops as kids, my first desktop computer around 1995, and my first actual HP laptop1999.

I took a mandated computer class in middle school that involved typing but I always just knew how to do it because I grew up with it.

I joined an internet BBS in the early 90s, prior to which I was a hunt-and-peck typist. Those forums scrolled fast, so if you wanted to partake, you needed to type fast. I was a touch typist after about four months.

Been typing 30+ years and still only use my thumb, index & middle fingers.

We had a manual typewriter back in the 60s. I was taught to type, "Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country."

We had records

i am a millennial. Born late 80s. Had to take typing from a computer program as part of computer class. What we called information sciences.

I learned naturally. When I started using AOL and instant messaging, I needed to type faster out of necessity to get my points across.

I am a hunt-and-pecker, especially when I’m on Chaturbate.

Same here, r3.

I had an electric typewriter with a carrying case. Yes - I'm an Elder Gay. "Kinda" learned to type. Got better when I got my first computer - an Apple.

I never took typing in high school, and I'm sorry I didn't. I never thought I'd end up in IT. I don't think the term IT even existed at the time. Anyway, I started with an online program in the late 80s? Early 90s? Then I bought a Mavis Bacon Learn To Type CD. I'm not a great typist at all (I still struggle with numbers), but I got by on it for a long time.

Senior year in high school with Miss Adele Green (1981) . She looked a lot like Jean Stapleton. We were required to take one semester of typing because it was a college-prep high school, and the school wanted us to be ready to type papers in college (got an electric typewriter for Christmas '80). I'm glad I took the class.

Never learned, even after forty years in publishing.

Whoyu seys I evber didiid, OO -

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Typing class in high school was the most useful class I ever took. Who knew how important it would be?

I've had a few weirdly prescient moments in my life.

I took a summer school class in which learned how to type because nothing else seemed interesting. I had a random free period in junior high, so took a Home Ec class in which I learned basics of cooking and following recipes and basic sewing both by hand and on a machine.

Both classes have served me extremely well over the years, especially the typing.

In my Catholic high school, I had Mr Foley, who taught us on IBM Selectric typewriters. I got up to 50 words per minute.

Typing Tutor had a great game called LETTER INVADERS

[quote]Typing Tutor had a great game called LETTER INVADERS

Yes, that was what I used first. Then Mavis Beacon.

Aside from my typing class in high school, the other class which served me very well for the rest of my life was "Public Speaking" my senior year in college, fall semester. The teacher was Miss Virginia 'Ginia' Byrd who looked a lot like 'Ant Bea' from the Andy Griffith Show. She wanted everyone to call her Ginia. She taught everyone how to build their self-confidence, how to stand in front of a crowd , how to make eye contact with everyone in front of you, and how to hold their attention. The first thing she knocked out of everyone was using 'ummm' in between words. What a great class - what a great teacher. I think every student should have to take a public speaking class in their college years.

Sad to say, Ginia died unexpectedly during Christmas break that year. The semester I had her was the last she taught. I was lucky to have her.

We were taught and drilled on it in elementary school. They'd drape a towel over our hands, so we couldn't see the keyboard at all. By the sixth grade, we could type by touch, easily 60-70 words per minute. Even the stupid kids could do it.

Mother says that in her day, only sluts and faggots took typing and shorthand in high school, so they could get office jobs and become some old man's SUCKRETARY! To this day, she still types one letter at a time.

When was that r21?

R21, what computers did you learn on? We started with Apple II computers in elementary school.

R22 Late 1990s for me. Early 1980s for mother.

High school 60 WPM on a manual. I was a wiz!

Junior High School. It was an elective but I can still remember my teacher and what she taught. Little stupid things like two spaces between sentences. She also used to put half dollars on her students wrists because it was the fingers that were supposed to do the work, not the wrists. Any student who finished a paragraph with the half dollar still on their wrists got to keep the coin.

R26 I'm sure she was secretly looking for skilled hands to molest.

"Let your fingers do the work," indeed.

As a pianist and a very good sight reader, I found touch typing a breeze. Very similar skillset. I liked typing on manual typewriters and I brought one to college. They were lightweight and QUIET compared to electric typewriters. But the keys would jam up if a person typed too fast. I think 100 WPM was my speed in high school class, but I'm sure I typed more slowly on my manual .

The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.

Dad's lad had a shad salad.

I wish I had a hairy chest and a beard like Mr. Brinkerman. And that shirt. He smells sexy, like Avon Wild Country. He caught me looking at him again. He smiled, and told me to look at the page and keep typing. This is boring. I would like to live in France.

Took a typing class in high school, back in the 70s. Most useful class I ever took.

I was also born in 1990, same as R1. My dad has always been a computer enthusiast and studied computer science in college in the '80s. He had an old Apple II in his office that my brother and I would keyboard-mash on for fun, as well as a Dell PC which had internet access (this would've been around 1995 or so). I was playing different computer games and using computers pretty much as far back as when I first learned to read. I recall doing typing games in our computer lab when I was in elementary school, so I suppose that's the extent of my "learning" aside from just learning by doing. I am sort of grateful that I grew up during the evolution of the internet. It was an interesting and exciting time. To this day I still much prefer using a laptop over a smartphone, which is where I differ from a lot of gen Z-ers who mostly grew up on iPhones.

Typing class in high school . Mr. Hanson . I’ve been trying to weave that experience into a short story. He would say “a…. strike !” etc. valuable class. Touch typing .

We tortured that poor teacher. We ripped up our sandwiches, putting pieces inside, upon the keys . So when we typed pieces of bologna , whatever , went flying.

Typing class in the 1970s, and I was the only boy. I'd always loved office machinery so I took it -- I think it was a class to teach girls to become secretaries. That class and Latin (which helped when I learned Italian in college) are the only skills I retained from high school. I'm a fast typist, though I always struggle with numbers too, R11. And I could never find the @ symbol. Who knew how important both typing and that symbol would become?

We had pieces of cardboard taped to the machine that went over our hands on the final exam.