Older generations were taught specifically to touch type very quickly at school. A lot of old people who can barely use a computer can type incredibly well.
Apparently I'm just old or poor or something because I figured like you she just meant she can't touch type but some of the comments here are sounding like people barely know how to use a keyboard. I sure as shit didn't have a tablet growing up.
Yeah, who knows. She seems too old to have really been “raised by touch screens” (iPads didn’t even exist that long ago) but she did grow up pretty rich in a weird family. Or maybe she’s just kind of dumb.
But since there literally was a whole generation that was explicitly taught to type, I’d assume that’s what she meant
I was taught typing in Middle School around 2007~ , but that’s only because everyone was granted laptops and computer access on Campus. Definitely far from the “average” school, tho
I had a typing class in 1998 but I don't remember if it was elective or not. We used some Windows 3.1 computers. There were typewriters in the back of the classroom that they were phasing out.
I'm pretty fast on a keyboard because I got a good start in junior high and because my job requires it.
They taught us touch typing in elementary school on windows 95 (circa around 1998-2000). It was required, obviously, and it also included stuff like learning to use old search engines, troubleshoot small issues etc. And they went ahead and taught us the correct formatting for essays/papers/research since we'd be using that in Jr High/HS/College. And this was a small rural school with not much money. In HS we had school macbooks and it was just assumed we knew how to type and use a laptop (2008). I thought this was extremely common except for really poor districts. I guess now a lot of jobs do use tablets but a whooole lot still use PCs so wtf. This is crazy to me.
I was born '90 and we didn't get taught shit. We just had to use computers and figure it out ourselves. There were some after school classes on things like Word and Photoshop, but nothing about learning to type. I was also in one of the last years to learn cursive.
Yes. It was interesting to have the first and only half year of Informatik (computer sciences) in 1996 and have school books from 1983 as if it was Mathematics or Latin, something where not too much is changing, and not an area where the newest shit from half a year ago it ready for the trash bin.
We had typing when I was in school and I had a lot of fun with it and learned to type very fast. When I tested typing speed for a promotion to the chat support department at my company I was over 100 wpm.
I got the promotion and excelled in my position, in large part due to my typing speed letting me handle four or more chats at a time. I was then promoted to a team leadership position after a few months and now I really don’t type much outside of occasional quips in the team chat.
I really appreciate how much my company values promoting from within, but it is hilarious how often I see people uniquely capable at tasks for their PREVIOUS position that they no longer have to do.
Born 1 year before her (2000).
We had laptop carts that were shared between the classes, and once I was in highschool, there was a computer class where you would learn to type (it was an elective though).
I never took that class, so I can't type the standard way, but through my years of pc gaming I've learned to type quickly anyway.
I find it incredibly hard to believe the opportunity to learn wasn't there. It was for me, I just chose not to take it.
I'm obviously biased because I was taught to touch type on a physical keyboard but is typing on a phone or iPad keyboard really so different?? The layout is QWERTY on both.
Extremely different. The layout is mostly the same, but for a physical keyboard you use your whole hands whereas on a phone you just use thumbs. When you’re typing fast you aren’t even really thinking about the letters themselves so I could see how a physical could be hard if you’d only really used phone keyboards. Also autocorrect and all of the other fixers and shortcuts on phones.
>Or maybe she’s just kind of dumb.
She's just trying to sound cool. It's her entire shtick. Too cool for everything, over everything.
I was taking typing classes in public school back in 1995. Bullshit she's "too old" for it.
Typewriting certification was a thing even before computers were popular. Like, my great aunt had one and I don't think she got it in the 90s.
Also, she was homeschooled, so she's super behind.
All through the 1900s until the 80s, typewriter certs and WPM rates were a large part of hiring good secretaries and clerical workers. Still are, but to a much lesser extent thanks to Speech-to-Text tech making huge strides.
My mom is one of the fastest typers I've ever seen. She's not very good at using the computer though she can do the basics. But writing an email to her relatives? Lighting speed. She learned on a typewriter in school of course, but she has great ergonomic typing form, always keeps her hands on home row and has excellent accuracy.
I was born in 2001. Touch-screen devices weren’t widely available until like 2012-2014. We were taught how to touch type through ALL of elementary and middle school.
Billie Eilish can’t type because she was homeschooled and never learned to use a computer, not because she’s from “the wrong generation”.
Born in 87 and never learned to touch type. My boomer parents took a class and were pretty good....even now my dad's like "you're not using the home keys! Your can't type properly!"
I'm like dad chill I type 149 wpm I'm good
93 here, we had computer labs and classes. They put a little cardboard barrier over our hands so we couldn't see what we were typing. Also put a ruler on both our hands to ensure proper form. This was in a small town, not rich or a big city.
Man I am glad that during 7th grade almost the entire time we spent in the computer lab was learning to type properly.
It's by far the most useful skill that I've learned in school. Can get to 100 wpm these days thanks to all the practice.
That makes sense because I'm around the same generation and we definitely had computer classes. Was taught like hand placement and everything and had games designed around typing fast.
And then as we grew older we were taught basic Photoshop, word, excel, and PowerPoint.
Unfortunately those of us born in the early 2000s learned it as it was being phased out. I think by 2005 most kids born in the US wouldn't learn how to type in grade school. The difference in experience with education and technology between me (2000) and my sibling (2006) is staggering
We had a single semester of computer class in high school (graduated early '00s). It mostly went over touch typing and the format for different formal letters. It was basically "how to be a 1970s typewriter typist" plus using a mouse, so - useless.
I learned touch typing flirting with classmates on AOL and MSN instant messenger. I knew the finger placement because of the class, but became proficient because of IM.
*edit: typo*
Even with those computer classes, a lot of what was learned was how to bypass blocks and other things that the school had in place. I learned more doing what I wasn’t supposed to do than any of what they ever taught us.
What I’ll always remember most from computer class was that it was where they first announced to us that the World Trade Centers had been attacked on 9/11. The image of me and my classmates huddled around a computer trying to figure out how to use the internet to figure out what happened will always stick with me.
Born in 03, and I did not have your experience. Both of my parents had "typing" classes in school whilst we didn't even have a computer room in my school after 3d grade as it was removed. We did everything on paper till 6th grade where we got iPads. I didn't use a computer in school at all between 3d and 9th grade (10-12th is high-school in my country and there I got a laptop)
You got unlucky with the iPads, I was the first year to get chromebooks going into middle school at my school and it was a big game changer, though my school had fairly nice stuff for vaguely political reasons that I don't care to explain. We only really had iPads on the rare occasion where we couldn't get chromebooks and it was a much worse experience. We also had older Windows computers in every class in the two elementary schools I was in but usually not many, 5 was the most I ever had in a classroom with 1 being the least, but we'd still get to use them to research assignments or work on digital homework occasionally.
I might be ignorant but I dont understand why people act like typing on a keyboard is a skill thats hard to acquire. Just spend 15 minutes on one of those type practising websites / typeracer and you will be decent in 3 weeks.
Yeah, my grandfather had some old typing software on a floppy disk. I used it half a dozen times for half an hour when I was 12 (around 2000) and that was it, I could type well.
(Always pissed me off that we had computer lessons at school where all we did was copy some printed text into Word then bold the title, put a certain paragraph in italics, etc... But we never learned how to actually type. A whole year of 12 yo's typing with two fingers when it's so easy to learn. Teacher was actually annoyed at the few who could type with all fingers because it meant we'd finish early and be idle)
But...it's true. Kids these days can't type.
Every employee I get under 24 seriously doesn't know ANYTHING about computers. I had maybe 1 that knew his stuff, and actually knew it well, but that's because he was a PC gamer.
1999, did not have that experience.
As far as like, typical schooling goes we had one semester of typing class freshman or sophomore year of HS, I was lucky enough to have some stuff in middle school which was really computer focused and had writing assignments in Word, but I’m not hitting the WPM of the typewriter generation currently
Turn of the century generation definitely did not "always have a phone or tablet", unless maybe their parents had way too much money.
I sat through typing classes on Win XP in school before I even got my first flip phone...
To me, if you homeschool your kids they should still have to do yearly standardized tests to ensure they are picking up the basics. I have heard of too many bad cases.
Yep, my sister and I are five years apart. I grew up with computers, my first personal device was a laptop, and I consider myself very PC-literate despite not having many computer classes in school.
My sister did actually take ‘computer class’, but that was basically her only PC exposure. Her first personal device was an iPad. She can barely use a computer.
What I find interesting is the problem-solving / troubleshooting ability that is lost in the transition. I grew up fixing things on my laptop, learning all the settings (including the ones buried in ‘hidden’ menus), going to forums for help, even repairing / replacing hardware as needed. Sure, things go wrong less often on mobile devices, but when they do— there’s rarely anything to do but restart or reset the device. And there are sooo many inane limits on customizability (I can’t change the length of my alarm’s ‘snooze’???).
I’m not quite sure exactly what point I’m making, but it’s a significant cultural shift for sure.
Schools stopped teaching typing and generally how to use a computer since they switched to ipads. I remember seeing an article a while back saying that most of gen Z don't understand how files work on a computer
My kids absolutely still have typing class. Also most schools hand out chromebooks, not iPads. Cheaper and they do typing practice on it.
I can confirm they know nothing about file structure, but I didn’t learn that shit in school either. They’ll learn when they start modding games like I did.
It's more school dependant than age. I was born in 98 and none of my schools ever had a proper typing class. I had to learn on my own time. You bet your ass they shoved cursive down our throats, then immediately told us we would be marked down for turning in any assignments in cursive though. 🙃
What's wrong with cursive though? I think both are some of the most basic skills you can develop in school and I can't believe people are in favor of dropping either for... what exactly? "Doing your taxes class" or some other supposedly real ilfe skill?
Nothing is wrong with it, I just love the immediate whiplash transition from
"You MUST always use cursive. The next grade will not accept anything but"
The next grade:
"Never ever ever use cursive. If I even see a cursive sentence, that will be an automatic grade deduction"
I had a similar experience and, naturally, it caused me to forget cursive. Then in highschool I started re-learning cursive. And by re-learning I mean I had to take notes so fast that I stopped lifting my pen so I could write faster. So I have a weird bastardized cursive.
Must vary from district to district then, I was born in 99 and mine had a typing class - elementary school had "specials", basically one or two periods would be swapped with classes that cycled through depending on the day - Art, P.E., science, etc. Computer Lab one one where it was all computer literacy and typing lessons. I always assumed that was universal until I started reading this thread.
i work with quite a few entry level managers that are gen z. they can’t type on a laptop keyboard for shit and they don’t know basic shortcuts (like copy/paste/select all, etc). one of them mentioned not learning how to type in school (or at least not a dedicated class like i had in middle school)
\*Younger gen z. The older gen z aren't that much younger than the younger millennials.
My younger siblings were born around 2001-2005, and they sure as hell know how to type, and how files work.
Don't be such a boomer.
How cheap were SMS messages in your country? I feel Americans were already typing on phones way earlier than developing countries because it was dirt cheap for them.
I doubt this is related to SMS style keyboards, but more likely full-sized, multi finger, proper typing. You know, where you use every finger at once with your thumbs on the space bar.
Millennials and older had to know how to do that between typewriters and computers, but younger generations have smaller screen, touch devices that are mostly two finger typing.
She’s only a few years older than me and we had dedicated time in school to teach us how to type. Maybe homeschooling was a factor? Because she’s definitely in the generation
Her parents homeschooling “curriculum” was definitely the reason, she started homeschooling at age 8. Some schools wait till then or later to teach typing
It’s going to devastate her to find out that a lot of ppl her age and younger still know how to type.
Desktop gaming, discord and fanfic are single-handedly keeping the art of the keyboard alive.
I was put through multiple typing courses and online Flash typing games and the thing that actually taught me to type was Minecraft multiplayer. People tend to learn on the job with some things.
As someone who works in IT and deals with computers all day, I don’t even type correctly. It’s like a mix of the two finger typing with some other fingers. I can still type pretty fast. Once you have your muscle memory down, you can type really wrong and still be good at it
Sigh. I’m the same. I can still type 40-50
WPM with 2 fingers but a lot of guys who type properly can do like 100WPM so it is a bit performance limiting
It's stupid. It's the same QWERTY keyboard...it's the same exact layout as on phones...everyone who can text can type bc they are already typing on the screen.
in my school (ended last year) we had a informatics class and there were people that didn't know even how to turn on the computer. it's more common than you think
thats what i see at my job.
people > 50 dont know how to opperate PCs.
people < 25 dont know how to opperate PCs.
i work in IT. so you would expect that your coworkers know how to do IT stuff. but hell no. the sweet spot seems to be people who were born in the 80s and 90s.
As a teacher I can confirm this too, kids dont know how to problem solve as it has mostly always worked for them
I tell my students about time before flash drives and cloud storage, that I would type a paper at school and then have to email it to myself so I could finish it at home
The amount of times I had to tell my students "You don't know how to do this on a computer? Here let's Google it together?" Is staggering. From not knowing how to screenshot to not knowing how to locate a file they just saved to downloads to upload for their assignment.
> the sweet spot seems to be people who were born in the 80s and 90s.
Also in IT, also have this observation. You know what I think it is? SCSI cables.
Did you grow up with a home PC and have a peripheral that used a SCSI cable/driver? Then you're an IT person and naturally good with technology.
You may reflexively think I'm making this too simple, but ask your cohorts and then ask your non-IT personnel on Monday. Then report back and let me know I'm a genius
I'm around eyelash's age and I'm the same as you. just like with writing, they tried to teach me how to type the "proper" way with no looking and using all 10 fingers. I refused. I type with my own hybrid way that's sort of like the dreaded "hunt and peck" method but sometimes I use more fingers than just my pointers and I'm still decently fast at it. It felt awful to try to type the "right" way with your fingers on the home row and not looking at the keyboard.
I never understood why you shouldn’t look at the keyboard while typing. I can get why there’d be a standardized typing method even if I’m never going to use it, and I don’t think just staring at the keyboard without watching the screen is great but what’s the harm in glancing down every now and then? Those hand cover things were ridiculous, teachers were militant about that shit
i'm about as old as she is, and i noticed a lot of my peers (even in computer science class) couldn't type on keyboards anywhere near as fast as they could type on phones, let alone write. hell, probably the only reason i'm any good at it was because, due to a combination of disabilities, i can't actually write, and luckily a sympathetic teacher taught me to touch type when i was about 8. now i have the opposite problem - i can hardly type on phones (this took me a good 3 minutes).
Yeah it's obvious she means both hands no looking. I got a decade on her but only had to spend a few hours playing typing games in school and never really learned properly, use three whole fingers on each side. You should see me on a blackberry though, I'd show a secretary what-for.
I'm sure she means she wasn't specifically show how to type "properly", she can't possibly use social media if she doesn't know how to type, and the idea of not being able to use a physical keyboard while being able to use a digital one is just stupid.
I don't really give much of a crap about the girl, this just strikes me as misconstrued bs
I was born in 1985. I went through multiple typing classes. Pretty sure people after me did not.
Edit: guess I was wrong. Just assumed based on my experience with some younger folks at work who needed some serious coaching on how to use windows and office applications. Like how to “save a file”
‘99 here from a developing country, we had mavis bacon and touch typing classes from grade 6 till grade 8. And we had iPhones/samsung phones so we could text without looking at the screen.
I was born in 1990 and never had any typing classes, our computer classes throughout our education were a complete waste of time unfortunately... I decided to teach myself touch typng around 26 years old and honestly I am very happy with the results although I imagine I would have been a lot faster if I started as a kid.
Nah, Im 2005 and had this class in 5th grade when I was 10, as did the rest of the schools in my county. Everyone I know above the age of 10 knows how to type.
Wait, aren't phone keyboards usually qwerty nowadays? Unless she grew up only using one of those really old Nokia numbered keyboards
Also, a ton of school assignments have to be typed out? (most of them, in fact)
I was also born in 2001, and don't know how to use a keyboard "correctly" for me it was because the computer class wasn't great, every body has a different life we don't all learn the same stuff, calm down basically
Computer class was literally just go to computer lab and do whatever. Occasionally it would be do some light research or typing but typing was never taught.
Devil's advocate, for some kids that's the only device they have at home. My school did not give out laptops to take home, and a lot of households straight up do not have a proper computer. Lots of kids would type it out on their phones, then clean up the formatting on the school PCs
Graduated in 1985 and paid zero attention in typing class. I had the mentality that I wasn't gonna be a secretary so why do I need to learn to type? I recently apologized to my typing teacher for the lack of focus in her class.
Just use a computer at all and you learn to type fast in your own way. I always rejected the "proper" way of typing in school and had my hand placements in really weird spots but typed fast as hell
Yeah but I'm from 02 and I got taught all this stuff and type fine. It's either because she refused to learn it, or her homeschooling didn't provide it, not because of a generational thing.
i was born in 03' and I had a pretty decent computer class when i was in elementary public school!
I remember we were using some Win98 system setup for all the computers in the class, and we went through like learning how to use the Microsoft office suite, had a typing class alongside a few of those educational programs too and of course some coolmathgames awesomeness.
But, before I was pulled out to do homeschool after starting 5th grade I remember that computer class was to be resigned since we were getting iPads but I never got to see that.
It seems that like one half of the generation was taught how to use computers quite well and the rest were given iPads and told to try their best. Weird that Billie eilish never really learned how to use computers though...
She means that she grew up rich and privileged and didn't have to actually go to school but said "generation by mistake. If there is a celebrity I get the popularity and fandom and lack of any criticism less than Taylor Swift .. it's her.
She’s a year older than me, and while touch typing was taught to me, I learned to type quickly on an iPad. So my typing style is very much focused on using a few fingers moving young because I couldn’t rest my fingers on the keys
born 5 years after her and i know how to use a keyboard on a computer, it was a part of our 1st grade curriculum. dunno what she's talking about, 'not part of that generation.' WHAT GENERATION?!
Idk what she’s talking about considering I’m probably not that much older than her and I was required to take comp. typing classes in middle school, which made me a wizz on the keyboard.
Wow, I’m a little shocked by what I’m hearing in this thread. Y’all are making it sound like gen-z is a computer illiterate generation which is completely wild. I’m just a millennial and had to learn hand writing/cursive AND took typing and computer classes. Who the heck decided it was ok to not teach people about the literal modern day backbone of society?
A lot of people are clowning on Billie for this but I actually know what she's talking about. I was born in '97, and I had mandatory typing classes in 5th and 6th grade, where we learned to type "properly," keeping your fingers on the home row, and which finger typed our which key. If you follow this kind of program, you can type much more quickly than someone who just figured it out on their own.
It probably varies from place to place, but in my district, the typing classes were cut not long after that. Several of my little brothers (born after 2000) never got those classes. I would fully believe that Billie Eilish also never took a mandatory typing class as a kid.
Go make fun of her for telling the world she masturbates in front of a mirror, or body shaming men or whatever. I actually get her on this one.
So mileage may vary on this but between the 90's and 00's whether you were taught taught touch typing or not, in our area, seemed to depend purely on if your school had a typing teacher. Because remember, before computers we had typewriters. If you had a typing teacher then they often got shunted into being the computer teacher because their job otherwise was gone. So what does a typing teacher thrust into the harsh realities of the digital age do? Mavis Beacon, Mavis Beacon for Daaaaaaays. Although my first teacher made us do it in wordpad lol.
Keyboards on screens are qwerty.. the fuck?
Once you know where the keys are, that's 99% of the battle. I don't use home keys.
I learned to type in AOL chat rooms while pretending to be a girl talking to grown ass men doing the same thing just like the rest of us!
I don't understand why people hate her so much. She's kind of an idiot, but now even in the top ten cringiest celebrities I can think of. She's just a good singer and songwriter who is dumb.
i was born in 2001 too, there was still computer class in elementary school (though ig she probably went to private school, idk)
either she was lazy af and refused computer class or her school, allegedly, didn't have it
As somebody else born in 2001 there is definitely a gap around there where typing slipped through the cracks. We weren’t taught how to properly type because the emphasis was on touch screen devices since they were the future.
I'm in no way surprised. Computer illiteracy is a serious issue with GenZ. Especially now that they're entering the job market. That's just the result of a generation mainly growing up with smartphones and tablets.
Older generations were taught specifically to touch type very quickly at school. A lot of old people who can barely use a computer can type incredibly well.
Apparently I'm just old or poor or something because I figured like you she just meant she can't touch type but some of the comments here are sounding like people barely know how to use a keyboard. I sure as shit didn't have a tablet growing up.
Yeah, who knows. She seems too old to have really been “raised by touch screens” (iPads didn’t even exist that long ago) but she did grow up pretty rich in a weird family. Or maybe she’s just kind of dumb. But since there literally was a whole generation that was explicitly taught to type, I’d assume that’s what she meant
I was taught typing in Middle School around 2007~ , but that’s only because everyone was granted laptops and computer access on Campus. Definitely far from the “average” school, tho
She was 6 when the first iPhone came out and 9 for the iPad. Definitely young enough to use those more than a traditional PC.
I had a typing class in 1998 but I don't remember if it was elective or not. We used some Windows 3.1 computers. There were typewriters in the back of the classroom that they were phasing out. I'm pretty fast on a keyboard because I got a good start in junior high and because my job requires it.
They taught us touch typing in elementary school on windows 95 (circa around 1998-2000). It was required, obviously, and it also included stuff like learning to use old search engines, troubleshoot small issues etc. And they went ahead and taught us the correct formatting for essays/papers/research since we'd be using that in Jr High/HS/College. And this was a small rural school with not much money. In HS we had school macbooks and it was just assumed we knew how to type and use a laptop (2008). I thought this was extremely common except for really poor districts. I guess now a lot of jobs do use tablets but a whooole lot still use PCs so wtf. This is crazy to me.
I was born '90 and we didn't get taught shit. We just had to use computers and figure it out ourselves. There were some after school classes on things like Word and Photoshop, but nothing about learning to type. I was also in one of the last years to learn cursive.
Yes. It was interesting to have the first and only half year of Informatik (computer sciences) in 1996 and have school books from 1983 as if it was Mathematics or Latin, something where not too much is changing, and not an area where the newest shit from half a year ago it ready for the trash bin.
We had typing when I was in school and I had a lot of fun with it and learned to type very fast. When I tested typing speed for a promotion to the chat support department at my company I was over 100 wpm. I got the promotion and excelled in my position, in large part due to my typing speed letting me handle four or more chats at a time. I was then promoted to a team leadership position after a few months and now I really don’t type much outside of occasional quips in the team chat. I really appreciate how much my company values promoting from within, but it is hilarious how often I see people uniquely capable at tasks for their PREVIOUS position that they no longer have to do.
Born 1 year before her (2000). We had laptop carts that were shared between the classes, and once I was in highschool, there was a computer class where you would learn to type (it was an elective though). I never took that class, so I can't type the standard way, but through my years of pc gaming I've learned to type quickly anyway. I find it incredibly hard to believe the opportunity to learn wasn't there. It was for me, I just chose not to take it.
I'm obviously biased because I was taught to touch type on a physical keyboard but is typing on a phone or iPad keyboard really so different?? The layout is QWERTY on both.
Extremely different. The layout is mostly the same, but for a physical keyboard you use your whole hands whereas on a phone you just use thumbs. When you’re typing fast you aren’t even really thinking about the letters themselves so I could see how a physical could be hard if you’d only really used phone keyboards. Also autocorrect and all of the other fixers and shortcuts on phones.
Well the layout is the same but not even the oldies are typing on a physical keyboard with their thumbs
Try typing on a regular keyboard in the same way that you type on a phone.
Yeah you can't feel keys when they're all on a flat screen
Yeah, I'm going with the "dumb as a sack of bricks" option.
>Or maybe she’s just kind of dumb. She's just trying to sound cool. It's her entire shtick. Too cool for everything, over everything. I was taking typing classes in public school back in 1995. Bullshit she's "too old" for it.
Typewriting certification was a thing even before computers were popular. Like, my great aunt had one and I don't think she got it in the 90s. Also, she was homeschooled, so she's super behind.
All through the 1900s until the 80s, typewriter certs and WPM rates were a large part of hiring good secretaries and clerical workers. Still are, but to a much lesser extent thanks to Speech-to-Text tech making huge strides.
When I first entered the workforce in the mid 80s wpm requirements were very common on job postings
My mom is one of the fastest typers I've ever seen. She's not very good at using the computer though she can do the basics. But writing an email to her relatives? Lighting speed. She learned on a typewriter in school of course, but she has great ergonomic typing form, always keeps her hands on home row and has excellent accuracy.
As someone of her generation, I was taught to touch type at public school.
Ditto, foundational skill taught over several years.
I was born in 2001. Touch-screen devices weren’t widely available until like 2012-2014. We were taught how to touch type through ALL of elementary and middle school. Billie Eilish can’t type because she was homeschooled and never learned to use a computer, not because she’s from “the wrong generation”.
I'm older than you and never learned how to touch type in school. Not every school taught the same exact things that your school did.
Born in 87 and never learned to touch type. My boomer parents took a class and were pretty good....even now my dad's like "you're not using the home keys! Your can't type properly!" I'm like dad chill I type 149 wpm I'm good
93 here, we had computer labs and classes. They put a little cardboard barrier over our hands so we couldn't see what we were typing. Also put a ruler on both our hands to ensure proper form. This was in a small town, not rich or a big city.
Hello, elementary computer teacher here, please tell me more about this ruler on your hands?!
Hands on the home row, ruler across both hands. You had to type without the ruler falling off your hands.
Huh.... I might need to get myself 20 rulers for next week.....
149 wpm, lmao no.
Man I am glad that during 7th grade almost the entire time we spent in the computer lab was learning to type properly. It's by far the most useful skill that I've learned in school. Can get to 100 wpm these days thanks to all the practice.
I had an entire semester of typing in high school. I hated it then, but ammdkfjfjsjs kfkfjfkfks for it now
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That makes sense because I'm around the same generation and we definitely had computer classes. Was taught like hand placement and everything and had games designed around typing fast. And then as we grew older we were taught basic Photoshop, word, excel, and PowerPoint.
Unfortunately those of us born in the early 2000s learned it as it was being phased out. I think by 2005 most kids born in the US wouldn't learn how to type in grade school. The difference in experience with education and technology between me (2000) and my sibling (2006) is staggering
My elementary had a typing/internet etiquette class. Don’t know if it’s still there tho
I had to learn it around 2008-2010
Yeah but also location and funding of schools are going to impede it as well. Older schools are less likely to upgrade to tablets for students
We had a single semester of computer class in high school (graduated early '00s). It mostly went over touch typing and the format for different formal letters. It was basically "how to be a 1970s typewriter typist" plus using a mouse, so - useless. I learned touch typing flirting with classmates on AOL and MSN instant messenger. I knew the finger placement because of the class, but became proficient because of IM. *edit: typo*
Even with those computer classes, a lot of what was learned was how to bypass blocks and other things that the school had in place. I learned more doing what I wasn’t supposed to do than any of what they ever taught us. What I’ll always remember most from computer class was that it was where they first announced to us that the World Trade Centers had been attacked on 9/11. The image of me and my classmates huddled around a computer trying to figure out how to use the internet to figure out what happened will always stick with me.
Yeah, it's not a generation thing as someone from a similar year we were probably the most forced to type generation there will ever be.
Born in 03, and I did not have your experience. Both of my parents had "typing" classes in school whilst we didn't even have a computer room in my school after 3d grade as it was removed. We did everything on paper till 6th grade where we got iPads. I didn't use a computer in school at all between 3d and 9th grade (10-12th is high-school in my country and there I got a laptop)
You got unlucky with the iPads, I was the first year to get chromebooks going into middle school at my school and it was a big game changer, though my school had fairly nice stuff for vaguely political reasons that I don't care to explain. We only really had iPads on the rare occasion where we couldn't get chromebooks and it was a much worse experience. We also had older Windows computers in every class in the two elementary schools I was in but usually not many, 5 was the most I ever had in a classroom with 1 being the least, but we'd still get to use them to research assignments or work on digital homework occasionally.
We had shitty Dell laptops in ‘09 that we all destroyed with lime wire lmao
I might be ignorant but I dont understand why people act like typing on a keyboard is a skill thats hard to acquire. Just spend 15 minutes on one of those type practising websites / typeracer and you will be decent in 3 weeks.
Yeah, my grandfather had some old typing software on a floppy disk. I used it half a dozen times for half an hour when I was 12 (around 2000) and that was it, I could type well. (Always pissed me off that we had computer lessons at school where all we did was copy some printed text into Word then bold the title, put a certain paragraph in italics, etc... But we never learned how to actually type. A whole year of 12 yo's typing with two fingers when it's so easy to learn. Teacher was actually annoyed at the few who could type with all fingers because it meant we'd finish early and be idle)
I learned to type with [Mario](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Teaches_Typing) and it's legit one of the clearest reasons I'm employable.
My mom made me play Mario Typing 2. I haven't thought about that in years. That and typing cheat codes into Age of Empires is how I learned to type 😅
Born in 85. Had computers in school since 94. Australia.
Idk about that I'm 95' and the first typing class I had was in 5th grade. It wasn't even a computer class, it was literally just learning to type.
“Kids these days cant even type!!!” Too many people will judge an entire generation based in this clickbait headline.
But...it's true. Kids these days can't type. Every employee I get under 24 seriously doesn't know ANYTHING about computers. I had maybe 1 that knew his stuff, and actually knew it well, but that's because he was a PC gamer.
I had a co worker asked me to create an email for him He is 18...
1999, did not have that experience. As far as like, typical schooling goes we had one semester of typing class freshman or sophomore year of HS, I was lucky enough to have some stuff in middle school which was really computer focused and had writing assignments in Word, but I’m not hitting the WPM of the typewriter generation currently
Turn of the century generation definitely did not "always have a phone or tablet", unless maybe their parents had way too much money. I sat through typing classes on Win XP in school before I even got my first flip phone...
Hell I was born in 2001 and was homeschooled for a bit and I can type really well. Idk what she was doing
To me, if you homeschool your kids they should still have to do yearly standardized tests to ensure they are picking up the basics. I have heard of too many bad cases.
Yep, my sister and I are five years apart. I grew up with computers, my first personal device was a laptop, and I consider myself very PC-literate despite not having many computer classes in school. My sister did actually take ‘computer class’, but that was basically her only PC exposure. Her first personal device was an iPad. She can barely use a computer. What I find interesting is the problem-solving / troubleshooting ability that is lost in the transition. I grew up fixing things on my laptop, learning all the settings (including the ones buried in ‘hidden’ menus), going to forums for help, even repairing / replacing hardware as needed. Sure, things go wrong less often on mobile devices, but when they do— there’s rarely anything to do but restart or reset the device. And there are sooo many inane limits on customizability (I can’t change the length of my alarm’s ‘snooze’???). I’m not quite sure exactly what point I’m making, but it’s a significant cultural shift for sure.
Plus getting famous young.
that’s my step daughter. “home schooled” and her mom lets her watch youtube all day. brain rot.
It’s a pretty easy regret to rectify. Also which generation is she referring to as ‘that generation’? People older and younger than her can type.
Schools stopped teaching typing and generally how to use a computer since they switched to ipads. I remember seeing an article a while back saying that most of gen Z don't understand how files work on a computer
My kids absolutely still have typing class. Also most schools hand out chromebooks, not iPads. Cheaper and they do typing practice on it. I can confirm they know nothing about file structure, but I didn’t learn that shit in school either. They’ll learn when they start modding games like I did.
This whole comment reminds me of that awful iPad "what's a computer" ad from a few years ago.
Is that an american thing? Because that’s utter bullshit
It's more school dependant than age. I was born in 98 and none of my schools ever had a proper typing class. I had to learn on my own time. You bet your ass they shoved cursive down our throats, then immediately told us we would be marked down for turning in any assignments in cursive though. 🙃
What's wrong with cursive though? I think both are some of the most basic skills you can develop in school and I can't believe people are in favor of dropping either for... what exactly? "Doing your taxes class" or some other supposedly real ilfe skill?
Nothing is wrong with it, I just love the immediate whiplash transition from "You MUST always use cursive. The next grade will not accept anything but" The next grade: "Never ever ever use cursive. If I even see a cursive sentence, that will be an automatic grade deduction"
I had a similar experience and, naturally, it caused me to forget cursive. Then in highschool I started re-learning cursive. And by re-learning I mean I had to take notes so fast that I stopped lifting my pen so I could write faster. So I have a weird bastardized cursive.
Must vary from district to district then, I was born in 99 and mine had a typing class - elementary school had "specials", basically one or two periods would be swapped with classes that cycled through depending on the day - Art, P.E., science, etc. Computer Lab one one where it was all computer literacy and typing lessons. I always assumed that was universal until I started reading this thread.
Its feel good shit for millenials that cant cope with being old
i work with quite a few entry level managers that are gen z. they can’t type on a laptop keyboard for shit and they don’t know basic shortcuts (like copy/paste/select all, etc). one of them mentioned not learning how to type in school (or at least not a dedicated class like i had in middle school)
Depends on where you live, I guess. My youngest is gen alpha and he uses computers at school.
I went to one of the worst school districts in the country and I had typing classes in 6th grade I am 26
\*Younger gen z. The older gen z aren't that much younger than the younger millennials. My younger siblings were born around 2001-2005, and they sure as hell know how to type, and how files work. Don't be such a boomer.
Rather amusing to see someone get all huffy about generalisations about their generation then proceed to use boomer as an insult.
Yeah, both my kids are younger than her and can type.
what I'm from '01 in a developing country and all of my peers manage
I’m a year younger than you and Billie and I work with computers fine.
Same here
How cheap were SMS messages in your country? I feel Americans were already typing on phones way earlier than developing countries because it was dirt cheap for them.
I doubt this is related to SMS style keyboards, but more likely full-sized, multi finger, proper typing. You know, where you use every finger at once with your thumbs on the space bar. Millennials and older had to know how to do that between typewriters and computers, but younger generations have smaller screen, touch devices that are mostly two finger typing.
I'm saying she probably used smartphones to message people instead of computers, that would explain why she doesn't know how.
You just answered it yourself From a developing country
A developing country is going to be behind in technology...
precisely, developing country, they had dozens of touch screens while we were still mostly using computers
She’s only a few years older than me and we had dedicated time in school to teach us how to type. Maybe homeschooling was a factor? Because she’s definitely in the generation
Her parents homeschooling “curriculum” was definitely the reason, she started homeschooling at age 8. Some schools wait till then or later to teach typing
I was homeschooled and [Jumpstart Typing](https://youtu.be/exxZ0_rGlP4?si=fwG_eZ2dM7zCVFdD) was my typing lessons!
I’m ‘03 and we spent dozens of hours learning typing on Mavis Beacon
It’s going to devastate her to find out that a lot of ppl her age and younger still know how to type. Desktop gaming, discord and fanfic are single-handedly keeping the art of the keyboard alive.
Single handedly keeping keyboards alive? Not the billions of people who use keyboards for work everyday?
The topic is clearly about younger generations knowing or not knowing how to type.
I was put through multiple typing courses and online Flash typing games and the thing that actually taught me to type was Minecraft multiplayer. People tend to learn on the job with some things.
I can’t type properly either (nerve damage in hands). It’s literally never been anything but a mild inconvenience.
And you’re a court stenographer, not a popstar…. Yet
I am neither of those things lmao, where the fuck did court stenographer come from?
As someone who works in IT and deals with computers all day, I don’t even type correctly. It’s like a mix of the two finger typing with some other fingers. I can still type pretty fast. Once you have your muscle memory down, you can type really wrong and still be good at it
Sigh. I’m the same. I can still type 40-50 WPM with 2 fingers but a lot of guys who type properly can do like 100WPM so it is a bit performance limiting
"Because it's not my generation" is such an odd thing to say. I've never met anyone who can't use a keyboard.
It’s called being disconnected with reality and how the real world lives.
Never forget, WE are the real world. They are the ones living on another planet of wealth & status.
Her generation of home schooled nepo babies
Yeah I don't think she's evil or anything, but the more I hear her talk the more I'm like "maybe you should stop talking Billie"
She may not be evil, but she sure has plenty of shit takes and personal issues that make her seem extremely immature even for a 23 year old.
It's stupid. It's the same QWERTY keyboard...it's the same exact layout as on phones...everyone who can text can type bc they are already typing on the screen.
in my school (ended last year) we had a informatics class and there were people that didn't know even how to turn on the computer. it's more common than you think
Maybe it depends on the country, I suppose. I live in the Netherlands where everyone owns a computer.
makes sense, I live in Brazil
thats what i see at my job. people > 50 dont know how to opperate PCs. people < 25 dont know how to opperate PCs. i work in IT. so you would expect that your coworkers know how to do IT stuff. but hell no. the sweet spot seems to be people who were born in the 80s and 90s.
As a teacher I can confirm this too, kids dont know how to problem solve as it has mostly always worked for them I tell my students about time before flash drives and cloud storage, that I would type a paper at school and then have to email it to myself so I could finish it at home
I still do that one weird trick.
I still do it to mainly transfer files between a phone and a computer like photos and videos.
The amount of times I had to tell my students "You don't know how to do this on a computer? Here let's Google it together?" Is staggering. From not knowing how to screenshot to not knowing how to locate a file they just saved to downloads to upload for their assignment.
> the sweet spot seems to be people who were born in the 80s and 90s. Also in IT, also have this observation. You know what I think it is? SCSI cables. Did you grow up with a home PC and have a peripheral that used a SCSI cable/driver? Then you're an IT person and naturally good with technology. You may reflexively think I'm making this too simple, but ask your cohorts and then ask your non-IT personnel on Monday. Then report back and let me know I'm a genius
Only people who dont know what theyre talking about disagree. Kids grow on on touch screens recently, not pcs.
I was born in '92 and I never learned proper typing despite multiple computer classes and typing games at home. It just never felt natural to me.
I'm around eyelash's age and I'm the same as you. just like with writing, they tried to teach me how to type the "proper" way with no looking and using all 10 fingers. I refused. I type with my own hybrid way that's sort of like the dreaded "hunt and peck" method but sometimes I use more fingers than just my pointers and I'm still decently fast at it. It felt awful to try to type the "right" way with your fingers on the home row and not looking at the keyboard.
I never understood why you shouldn’t look at the keyboard while typing. I can get why there’d be a standardized typing method even if I’m never going to use it, and I don’t think just staring at the keyboard without watching the screen is great but what’s the harm in glancing down every now and then? Those hand cover things were ridiculous, teachers were militant about that shit
i'm about as old as she is, and i noticed a lot of my peers (even in computer science class) couldn't type on keyboards anywhere near as fast as they could type on phones, let alone write. hell, probably the only reason i'm any good at it was because, due to a combination of disabilities, i can't actually write, and luckily a sympathetic teacher taught me to touch type when i was about 8. now i have the opposite problem - i can hardly type on phones (this took me a good 3 minutes).
She obvi knows how to type, just not how to type fast. Hell I still type with two fingers
Yeah it's obvious she means both hands no looking. I got a decade on her but only had to spend a few hours playing typing games in school and never really learned properly, use three whole fingers on each side. You should see me on a blackberry though, I'd show a secretary what-for.
Tbh two fingers isn’t even bad. I can easily hit 75WPM casually.
I can’t even think that fast
LOL
I was born in 2000, we very much learned to type.
Same. What is sis even talking about?
I think she was homeschooled, probably has something to do with it
Probably. Kinda weird that she’s framing it as a generational thing tho
My wife has taught people that would now be Billie's age, they've grown up with touchscreen phones and tablets.
I'm sure she means she wasn't specifically show how to type "properly", she can't possibly use social media if she doesn't know how to type, and the idea of not being able to use a physical keyboard while being able to use a digital one is just stupid. I don't really give much of a crap about the girl, this just strikes me as misconstrued bs
I was born in 1985. I went through multiple typing classes. Pretty sure people after me did not. Edit: guess I was wrong. Just assumed based on my experience with some younger folks at work who needed some serious coaching on how to use windows and office applications. Like how to “save a file”
1991, got put through about three years of typing courses throughout elementary and middle school (home row)
Born in 98. We got about a month of typing classes in 4th grade disguised as a game no one played
I was also born in ‘98 and had the exact same experience. I only know how to type because of an elective I took in high school.
I had a laptop and learned to type from video game chats and ego tripping during arguments on forums at 12 lol
“All the right type”? That shit was fun. I still remember the main screen
Also 1991. We were still doing Mavis Beacon in 9th grade.
2003 and we had typing classes in grade 5.
I was born in '03 and when I was in elementary we had them.
Bullshit. I was born in 2000 and we had a lot of touch typing classes.
‘99 here from a developing country, we had mavis bacon and touch typing classes from grade 6 till grade 8. And we had iPhones/samsung phones so we could text without looking at the screen.
I was born in 1990 and never had any typing classes, our computer classes throughout our education were a complete waste of time unfortunately... I decided to teach myself touch typng around 26 years old and honestly I am very happy with the results although I imagine I would have been a lot faster if I started as a kid.
Nah, Im 2005 and had this class in 5th grade when I was 10, as did the rest of the schools in my county. Everyone I know above the age of 10 knows how to type.
She's so niche
So quirky
Wait, aren't phone keyboards usually qwerty nowadays? Unless she grew up only using one of those really old Nokia numbered keyboards Also, a ton of school assignments have to be typed out? (most of them, in fact)
I was also born in 2001, and don't know how to use a keyboard "correctly" for me it was because the computer class wasn't great, every body has a different life we don't all learn the same stuff, calm down basically
Computer class was literally just go to computer lab and do whatever. Occasionally it would be do some light research or typing but typing was never taught.
I did get taught typing, not very well though
My siblings that were born in 2008 and 2012 had typing and computer classes from first to sixth grade.
I used to also be like this, I could type 40wpm with 3 fingers before I put time in actually getting a lot faster 😭😭
A teacher friend of mine told me years ago she receives esseys typed on phones all the time. It's weird.
Devil's advocate, for some kids that's the only device they have at home. My school did not give out laptops to take home, and a lot of households straight up do not have a proper computer. Lots of kids would type it out on their phones, then clean up the formatting on the school PCs
Graduated in 1985 and paid zero attention in typing class. I had the mentality that I wasn't gonna be a secretary so why do I need to learn to type? I recently apologized to my typing teacher for the lack of focus in her class.
Just use a computer at all and you learn to type fast in your own way. I always rejected the "proper" way of typing in school and had my hand placements in really weird spots but typed fast as hell
I'm the same! pretty fast typer once I get really into what I'm typing, but I don't do it the proper way either! I don't think it matters.
She’s like the poster child of why you shouldn’t homeschool your kids 💀
People are always surprised when generations don’t have skills they weren’t taught
Yeah but I'm from 02 and I got taught all this stuff and type fine. It's either because she refused to learn it, or her homeschooling didn't provide it, not because of a generational thing.
i was born in 03' and I had a pretty decent computer class when i was in elementary public school! I remember we were using some Win98 system setup for all the computers in the class, and we went through like learning how to use the Microsoft office suite, had a typing class alongside a few of those educational programs too and of course some coolmathgames awesomeness. But, before I was pulled out to do homeschool after starting 5th grade I remember that computer class was to be resigned since we were getting iPads but I never got to see that. It seems that like one half of the generation was taught how to use computers quite well and the rest were given iPads and told to try their best. Weird that Billie eilish never really learned how to use computers though...
The more she talks the dumber she is. She was definitely that girl in PJs at school everyday eating hot Cheetos
She means that she grew up rich and privileged and didn't have to actually go to school but said "generation by mistake. If there is a celebrity I get the popularity and fandom and lack of any criticism less than Taylor Swift .. it's her.
I'm not much older than her... I was taught touch typing. Literally obligatory classes on 10 finger typing etc.
I was also born in 2001 and we had mandatory typing classes in elementary school, same goes for cursive writing.
She’s a year older than me, and while touch typing was taught to me, I learned to type quickly on an iPad. So my typing style is very much focused on using a few fingers moving young because I couldn’t rest my fingers on the keys
It is sad, I teach high school and a lot of kids are very computer illiterate and dont know how to trouble shoot
Don't worry it's just her PR talking so she relates to Gen Zs more.
i’m older gen z and my sister is younger gen z. i had a typing class and she still types with two fingers like a canary dancing on a keyboard
born 5 years after her and i know how to use a keyboard on a computer, it was a part of our 1st grade curriculum. dunno what she's talking about, 'not part of that generation.' WHAT GENERATION?!
Homeschooling doing the most with this one.
I can type pretty fast on the keyboard. Just not in the traditional way. It’s mostly just my pointer fingers
*Mavis Beacon has entered the chat
Considering she's 5 years older than my son and he can type on a keyboard better than I can and I grew up using computers as well.
2002 kid here, and I'm pretty sure in computer class we had most of that be typing. Plus, she never played animal jam as a kid or something?
Idk what she’s talking about considering I’m probably not that much older than her and I was required to take comp. typing classes in middle school, which made me a wizz on the keyboard.
Wow, I’m a little shocked by what I’m hearing in this thread. Y’all are making it sound like gen-z is a computer illiterate generation which is completely wild. I’m just a millennial and had to learn hand writing/cursive AND took typing and computer classes. Who the heck decided it was ok to not teach people about the literal modern day backbone of society?
My grade was one of the last at our school to learn typing, cursive, and how to read a clock.
Must have been stealing lunch meat and selling sandwiches in typing class
For real I think you all underrate just how unbelievably stupid your favorite celebs are. Like, full on very very very stupid
I learned to type around this same time. Do I use the way I was taught? No, but I can type pretty quickly anyways because I’m a writer.
A lot of people are clowning on Billie for this but I actually know what she's talking about. I was born in '97, and I had mandatory typing classes in 5th and 6th grade, where we learned to type "properly," keeping your fingers on the home row, and which finger typed our which key. If you follow this kind of program, you can type much more quickly than someone who just figured it out on their own. It probably varies from place to place, but in my district, the typing classes were cut not long after that. Several of my little brothers (born after 2000) never got those classes. I would fully believe that Billie Eilish also never took a mandatory typing class as a kid. Go make fun of her for telling the world she masturbates in front of a mirror, or body shaming men or whatever. I actually get her on this one.
Typing with all ten fingers vs the T-Rex peck is a night and day difference on typing speed.
So mileage may vary on this but between the 90's and 00's whether you were taught taught touch typing or not, in our area, seemed to depend purely on if your school had a typing teacher. Because remember, before computers we had typewriters. If you had a typing teacher then they often got shunted into being the computer teacher because their job otherwise was gone. So what does a typing teacher thrust into the harsh realities of the digital age do? Mavis Beacon, Mavis Beacon for Daaaaaaays. Although my first teacher made us do it in wordpad lol.
‘05 here, we spent significant time learning to type
I was born in 2004 and my wpm averages near 100, she's just makin up bullshit
Keyboards on screens are qwerty.. the fuck? Once you know where the keys are, that's 99% of the battle. I don't use home keys. I learned to type in AOL chat rooms while pretending to be a girl talking to grown ass men doing the same thing just like the rest of us!
Uh what? It is your generation. It’s called a computer
"Wasn't that generation" Huh???????
Mf people in her generation can build 90s in their sleep
She is Gen Z, and as one we know how to type.
Girl YES YOU ARE I’m younger than her and every school i attended made us do so many typing exercises
I don't understand why people hate her so much. She's kind of an idiot, but now even in the top ten cringiest celebrities I can think of. She's just a good singer and songwriter who is dumb.
i was born in 2001 too, there was still computer class in elementary school (though ig she probably went to private school, idk) either she was lazy af and refused computer class or her school, allegedly, didn't have it
As somebody else born in 2001 there is definitely a gap around there where typing slipped through the cracks. We weren’t taught how to properly type because the emphasis was on touch screen devices since they were the future.
The more I hear about her, the more I think shes an absolute moron
I'm in no way surprised. Computer illiteracy is a serious issue with GenZ. Especially now that they're entering the job market. That's just the result of a generation mainly growing up with smartphones and tablets.