Introduction to Touch Typing
Introduction to Touch Typing
What is Touch Typing?
The process of typing without looking at the keyboard is known as Touch Typing. It involves typing with eight fingers and a thumb. For seamless and correct touch typing, the fingers are required to be placed on the keys assigned to them.
Do not worry about fingers’ location because everyday practice will help your fingers learn their locations on the keyboard through muscle memory.
Touch Typing book by Muhammad Umar will provide you with better tips and tricks to learn or improve your typing skills without using any typing software.
If you curious about touch typing history, head over to our trending article, History of Touch Typing.
Advantages of Touch Typing
There are numerous advantages attached with touch typing for anyone who aims to learn. The preceding list describes some of them briefly.
1. Speed
Typing speed refers to how fast you can type with a keyboard. In this regard, the average typing speed is around 35 to 40 words per minute (WPM) for an average typist. However, the average typing speed of a touch typist is above 75-80 WPM, while a hunt and peck typist would hardly reach 25 or 30 words per minute. With that’s being said, touch typing can help you to type fast and achieve high speed.
2. Accuracy
Accuracy means to type the words correctly without making any errors (typos). It is an evenly important aspect of touch typing. With the help of touch typing, you can achieve high accuracy in your typing skills resulting in improved productivity.
3. Fatigue
Indeed, typing for extended hours over a long period is an exhausting activity. It makes one feel tired both mentally and physically. Nonetheless, touch typing reduces fatigue and frees you from focusing on two things. Additionally, touch typing relieves you from bending your head over the keyboard for finding your keystrokes.
4. Saving Time
Touch typing helps to save time in daily life as it improves your typing speed, let’s say from 30 WPM to 60 WPM. Eventually, it will take half the time to do the same amount of work.
The table below depicts how a touch typist performs better than a two-finger typist.
| Typist | Words | Minute |
|---|---|---|
|
Two fingers |
15 |
1 |
|
Average Typist |
38 |
1 |
|
Touch Typing |
60 |
1 |
5. Health
People who work on the computer all day are likely to be victims of various health issues like Repetitive Stress Injury or Relative Strength Index (RSI). But never mind, touch typing is here to help you. With touch typing, you are not bent at the keyboard, and using all fingers reduces the risks of RSI and other common health problems.
6. Job Prospects
Typing is no longer an optional skill, but rather many employers require a certain typing speed to consider someone for a position. Remember, hunt and peck typists are not preferred, even if they can type 20-35 WPM. Learning touch typing can be one of the most valuable skills of a career. It can help you get your foot in the door for an entry-level job and then excel on it to the next level.
7. Attention
When typing with two fingers, the attention is divided between two tasks finding the keys and typing. But, the human brain is incapable of focusing on two things at once. That’s why touch typing lets you focus on one thing instead of two. Ultimately, it improves output and makes it easier to focus on the details of the project rather than having to find your keystrokes.
8. Editing
When you are typing with two fingers, you will not notice any spelling or grammar mistakes until you make them. Touch typing allows you to edit and fix any spelling or grammar mistakes as you go. During typing, you can easily use the Backspace key to correct them.
9. Save 20-30 Hours / Month
With the help of touch typing, you can type faster and save between 20 and 40 hours per month. Now it is possible to work less and spend more time with the family.
10. Avoid RSI and inflammation
You should know that lousy typing techniques can cause painful RSI and inflammation. Touch typing will help you fix these problems and can save your fingers.
11. Effectiveness
Research shows that touch typists are more effective than hunt and peck typists. Touch typists can perform 2-3 times better in communication and social media.
12. Computer Savvy Person
Your fast typing skills save a lot of work at the office. You will be known as computer savvy, and people will be amazed at your typing speed and efficiency. Many times, when someone observes me typing so fast, they are impressed and then ask me how they can also learn touch typing skills.
Conclusion
In this article, we have formally introduced touch typing and highlighted its advantages.
Touch typing is defined as the process of entering text with eight fingers and a thumb without looking at the keyboard. For seamless and correct touch typing, the fingers are required to be placed on the keys assigned to them.
Touch typing is one of the important skills which a lot of advantages. On this point, speed in typing is considered the most obvious advantage of touch typing. Speed refers to how fast you can type with a keyboard.
However, accuracy is an equally significant part of typing. It means to type the words correctly without typos. With the help of touch typing, you can achieve high accuracy resulting in improved productivity.
Indeed, touch typing reduces fatigue and frees you from focusing on two things. Moreover, touch typing relieves you from bending your head over the keyboard.
The next advantage of touch typing on our list is saving time. Yes, touch typing helps to save time in daily life as it improves your typing speed. With the help of touch typing, you can type faster and save between 20 and 30 hours per month.
When comes to benefits, health is no exception. With touch typing, you are not bent at the keyboard, and using all fingers reduces the risks of RSI and other common health problems.
From a job point of view, typing is no longer an optional skill, but rather many employers require a certain typing speed to consider someone for a position. Moreover, touch typing allows you to edit and fix any spelling or grammar mistakes as you go.
Last but least, touch typing makes you effective and look computer savvy person. Studies show that touch typists are more effective than hunt and peck typists and can perform 2-3 times better in communication and social media. The best part is, you will be known as computer savvy in your workspace and people will be amazed at your typing speed and efficiency.