13 Reasons Why Touch Typing Is Important
Who would have ever thought one of the most important courses I took at high school would have been typing? The idea at the time, was to have an easy elective, and what a benefit it was to me, sitting as the only guy in a class with 20 girls.
Being full of testosterone, having a captive audience of high school girls was the only benefit that I could see, but I was so wrong.
Is touch typing important to you?
Many of us spend much of our day in front of a computer screen and thank goodness I learned how to type. However, after taking a speed typing test (you can also try TypingCat or HowTo Type, all of them are free), I found out I needed to work on my typing speed. For an “old dog”, I type at a respectful speed, but now I am going to take some touch typing lessons to improve. And you should too if you want to take full advantage of the benefits touch typing can provide to you.
Benefits of touch typing
As you get better at touch typing, you’ll get to enjoy these benefits on a larger scale.
1. Relaxing
Touch typing is a much more relaxing way to type. Hunt and Peck typing takes a tremendous amount of energy, which results to high level of exhaustion for an equal amount of typing completed by touch typing.
2. Time
Touch typing is much faster that the hunt and peck method. Tests have shown that the hunt and peck method can result in typing speeds of between 27 and 37 words per minute, compared to touch typing at 50 and 70 words per minute (average wpm while typing is 41). That is about an 85% increase in productivity with touch typing and could save you up to 21 days per year.
3. Focus
Touch typing allows one to focus on the information being typed, rather than having to focus on searching for the keys with hunt and peck.
4. Posture
Touch typing promotes better posture at the keyboard. Better posture equates to better health for your body.
5. Get more work done
Touch typing makes one more productive. A higher typing speed equates to being able to type more in the same amount of time as using the hunt and peck method.
6. Type it right
Touch typing leads to a high level of accuracy, and that is a benefit to anyone.
7. Put it on your resume
Touch typing is a great job skill that is looked on favourably by many employers.
8. Correct it faster
Touch typing lets you focus on what is being written that allows you to identify mistakes as you type. Identifying and making corrections with touch typing is much faster with touch typing. Having to look at the keyboard while using hunt and peck, takes your focus away from what you are typing.
9. Boasting
Sit beside someone who is using hunt and peck, and you can boast about your skill.
10. Take a burden off your brain
Touch typing is something that is described by MIT as “cognitive automatically.” The way the brain reacts to touch typing is the same as driving a car, reading, or riding a bike. We do not have to think about it. This frees the brain up to multi-task and focus on “ideas” rather than on hunting and pecking for the keys.
11. Professionalism
Touch typing puts you in a class different from most people out there, as it is becoming a “lost art”. It is much more professional to be able to sit at a keyboard and type calmly, than using the hunched over hunt and peck method.
12. You deserve free time
Touch typing allows jobs to be completed in a shorter period of time. This will give you more time to relax while the hunter and peckers try to catch up.
13. Be taken more seriously
Compared to the body language and the process of the hunt and peck method, touch typing makes you look better, feel better and be better. This will make you to be taken more seriously.
Conclusion
Touch typing offers much better benefits over the hunt and peck method of typing. Take a simple typing test and do what is right for you; learn to touch type with all the resources provided by online services. Most importantly, improve your touch typing speed along the way to improve your productivity, and better your life.
