I think that most of us would agree that technology has improved our lives in numerous ways. One thing is certain, even if we hate technology, we would have a very difficult time living without it. It isn’t just on our cell phones or our computers, it is at the checkout line at the grocery store or even when we try to pay a bill. One of the ways in which we have been impacted due to technology is the educational system. Over the past few decades, they had to make a number of changes, including in the way that they taught children.
There is no doubt that we use computers on a regular basis these days but can you remember back to the time when we used to use typewriters? Many of us who have been out of school for a few decades can look back and remember those typing classes in school. We learned how to put our fingers on the ‘home keys’ and to reach some of the more difficult keys on the keyboard. In addition, most of us owe our ability to type without looking at our hands to those typewriter classes. It’s still difficult to learn how to type, but today it is a must! Back then, things were quite different because we learned how to type on an old-school typewriter.
According to the encyclopedia Britannica, typewriter history stretches back into the 19th century. There were some attempts to make typewriters back then but it wasn’t until 1868 that the first typewriter was patented by an American inventor, Christopher Latham Scholes. His typewriter became quite popular.
In 1873, a contract was started between Latham and the E. Remington Company. It wasn’t long before typewriters were branded as ‘Remington’.
The Atlantic says that anyone born in the 1970s or 1980s were the last people who had the opportunity to take typing classes on old electric typewriters. Xennials, who were born between 1977 and 1985 probably took some of the earlier computer labs and they may have had typewriting classes as well.
It wasn’t long before typewriters were replaced with computer keyboards. Even though that is the case, the position of the keys are still the same and it is the QWERTY standard. The following video will tell you more about the history of the typewriter: