fast fingers

I have often thought about how lucky I was to have taken a typing class back in high school.... at the time, I thought that I would never really need the skill since I don't remember having any intention of becoming a secretary which was why many girls learned to type 'back then', but the class was required so of course I did as I was told to do... fingers on the home row, and everybody say it with me "a-s-d-f-j-k-l-semi" - that was the mantra and yes I learned it good.  Looking back, I realize that I partially owe my rate of productivity in today's world to Mrs. Phillips - the very dry and monotone typing teacher that could be a character on a sitcom - because I can get more done in a shorter time because I type fast!  I watch other people as they hunt and peck around with a few fingers, yes, often pretty fast, but they cannot possibly crank it out at the speed at which I can communicate with my fingers and thank god my fingers can keep up with my high speed brain!  And just when I thought I was the master of the keyboard, along came my first born child.  I don't know exactly when he learned to type, but I guess they gave the kids some limited typing instruction in grammar school and I've often thought that there should be more emphasis on typing now than ever before, but somewhere along the way, he really learned to type fast.  Let me give you some some point of reference - what was considered a fast typist in the days of hiring secretaries was 80 words per minute or so.... I'm proud to say that thanks to the on-line typing tests, I have been able to clock in my skills at 96 words per minute (and the web site DOES take into consideration errors and subtracts for them) so I was pretty excited to confirm the fact that I am indeed speedy on the keys... but look out because here comes Tommy and he has seriously clocked in at 123 words per minute and I AM NOT EXAGGERATING!! I have seen it with my own eyes.  He is incredible.  How on earth does he do it?  I dare you to try it yourself and be amazed!!  He even said that when he types, he does not think about the letters one at a time, but it's as if his fingers are moving on auto-pilot in more of a whole-word fashion.  I actually understand because I have often thought the same thing when I'm writing these blog entries, or just regular emails, etc.  It's as if my fingers take on a life of their own and yet I'm not nearly as good as the king of the keys - aka Tommy the Terrific Typist!  It really brings up the question "are people who can type faster more productive than people who cannot?"  I would imagine that slower typists do not depend upon typing emails and communications in order to be productive, but rather they find other ways to be efficient, but in this day and age with email communication being such a large part of so many industries, it really does make you wonder if more emphasis ought to be put on proper keyboard skills.   And as I think about my speed typing son, I'm sure he types even FASTER when he doesn't have to read and type what he is reading - in other words, if he is just strictly typing his thoughts and removing the 'reading' part from the equation, I'm SURE he would clock in even more than 123 words per minute!!  It's mind blowing!  Of course this all turns to poop as things move to our smartphones because here is where I am 'all thumbs, pun intended LITERALLY.  I am utterly handicapped without all 10 fingers and I resort to Princess Siri to get it done correctly.  And I hate to admit it, but here is where Tommy becomes the ultimate enigma - he is as fast with his thumbs as he is with all 10, I'm sure of it because I have seen the madness.  I'm not sure there is a test for thumb-typing, but maybe there's an app for that?