Re:Ask HN: Should I force myself to touch type?
by MegaLeon on Tuesday September 06, 2016 @02:35PM
(#12438205)
Thanks! I was thinking of starting practising with tools like typing.com every day, slowly upping practice time and taking weekly tests to gauge progress.
Then, once able to type regular sentences without banging my head on the desk, switch to touch type for short tasks, then side projects and then non-urgent work stuff.
Might track this and see how long it takes me to get comfortable with it.
My advice: don't force yourself. Just resolve to more frequently make a conscious effort to spend a bit of time touch typing. Maybe it's five minutes on a task requiring little flow. Maybe it's replying to email or typing into little boxes on the internet. Maybe it's working on a side project.
That way, productive work won't take a hit, there's calander scale time to develop alternative habits, and it's not an exercise in self-flagellation.
Finally, it's ok to use different techniques at different times, there's no rule requiring a single mode of keyboard interactions.
Good luck.