Its been a while since I encountered it, but there’s a very easy way to tell if someone originally learned to type on a typewriter: they stab at the keyboard very very hard for every single stroke, making the whole experience sound very very angry – especially if they’re two-finger typing.

I’ve had a number of customers recently do this, and in each instance I’ve had to refrain from asking if everything is okay, or what the problem is. In each instance, a sneaky peek at what they’re writing has revealed totally innocuous messages and even pleasantries – its just that they can’t get past the ingrained lessons that taught them they had to make sure that a mechanical arm struck the page with sufficient force to leave a mark.

The reverse is true these days of people who come in to use our computers, where they find great difficulty in using a mouse because they’ve got so used to using a tablet or their phone. I remind myself that we all adjust to our most commonly used tools – its why there’s always an adjustment period when you drive a new vehicle for example – rather than it being a sign of relative facility or attitude.