The Little Things
Monday, December 11, 2017
A Short Trip
All my life, I have had a fine motor coordination problem with my hands. My cursive writing is illegible. When I was in Catholic elementary school the nuns made me practice my cursive for an hour every day for an entire school year before concluding that I simply couldn’t improve.
My printing is only somewhat better, and if I am in a hurry, it too is illegible. Even my signature shows symptoms of actual brain damage in that my repeated signatures have different numbers of strokes. Computers have been a godsend to me, though not without their problems, too.
I have always simply taken it for granted that I would have a tough time using my fingers for anything delicate. So, I wasn’t surprised when my use of a smartphone was plagued with misses and sliding finger taps, making my use of apps in general and smartphone typing systems in particular fraught with mistakes. I have to double-check everything, even content I have created many times before. I also have a terrible time using the same amount of pressure with my finger each time I do so, often producing no result or one that shows I pushed too long.
Entirely separately, I got tired of wiping the greasy finger marks off my smartphone every morning and decided I would try using a stylus to reduce the grime. I assumed I would have as much trouble with the stylus as I did with my fingers-maybe even more.
A Tool
I was wrong.
There was a vast difference in the quality of my input when I used the stylus as compared with my finger. My error rate dropped very noticeably when I used the stylus, making my smartphone use more enjoyable and productive.
So, If you have trouble with fine motor tasks and it shows up on your smartphone, you might want to try a stylus too.
You can get styluses in bulk for about $.25 each or you can get better quality ones almost anywhere. The link below is to the Amazon page for styluses that show you the enormous variety and broad cost points for these products. Check to make sure your choice works with your device.