I've been using my pointer finger to press the spacebar this whole time 🤦♂️
I’m … stunned.
I was coming up with a short, fun, provider-agnostic SSH target name for
my new VM.
I landed on ha because I like using “ha” in chat, it’s short for happy place, and most importantly, I was impatient and wanted to move on.
Then I realized that ssh ha is annoying to type because my pointer finger has to go from the “h” of ssh, to the spacebar, and then back to the “h” of ha.
Then it struck me. Holy shit. I’ve been using the wrong finger for the most frequently typed key for my entire fucking life with computers.
At least I’m not hunting and pecking, but good lord. Time to start retraining 40 years of muscle memory.
Updates
Here’s how it’s going moving to the thumbs:
- June 18th: I’m moving from nerdShame to excitement about what will probably be a nice improvement in typing agility.
- June 21st: I’m at 78 WPM now on monkeytype.com, down from 100 or more normally, but up from 60-something a couple days ago.
Progress!
I still have to think hard about using my thumbs or else I fall back to the pointers.
- Later that evening: 100 WPM at 99% accuracy! It’s starting to feel more natural.
- June 22nd: Well that 100 WPM was exciting but it didn’t stick. Back to 75ish today. I’m noticing my hands need to be positioned higher up the board (farther away from me) in order to use the thumbs effectively, which is making me sloppy at the lower row of keys (ZXCV).
- June 29th: It’s starting to feel natural now. My muscle memory is getting used to the new hand position, so I’m hitting fewer typos and feel less strain.