Interesting People mailing list archives
IP: : Youth all thumbs?
From: David Farber <dfarber () earthlink net>
Date: Mon, 25 Mar 2002 06:14:57 -0500
-----Original Message----- From: Ari Ollikainen <Ari () OLTECO com> Date: Sun, 24 Mar 2002 16:00:18 To: farber () cis upenn edu Subject: Youth all thumbs? Adaptive mutation? Posted on Sat, Mar. 23, 2002 Thumbs are the new fingers for GameBoy youth http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/2922154.htm LONDON (Reuters) - The use of gadgets such as mobile phones and GameBoys has caused a physical mutation in young people's hands, according to a British Sunday newspaper. New research carried out in nine cities around the world shows that the thumbs of people under the age of 25 have taken over as the hand's most dextrous digit, said The Observer. The change affects those who have grown up with hand-held devices where the thumbs are used for keying in text messages and emails. ``The relationship between technology and the users of technology is mutual. We are changing each other,'' said Dr Sadie Plant of Warwick University's Cybernetic Culture Research Unit. ``Discovering that the younger generation has taken to using thumbs in a completely different way and are instinctively using thumbs where the rest of us are using our index fingers is particularly interesting.'' In her research, Plant noticed that while those less used to mobile phones used one or several fingers to access the keypad, younger people used both thumbs ambidextrously, barely looking at the keys as they made rapid entries. _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ You can't depend on your judgement when your imagination is out of focus. -- Mark Twain. _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ OLTECO Ari Ollikainen P.O. BOX 20088 Networking Architecture and Technology Stanford, CA Ari () OLTECO com 94309-0088 415.517.3519 For archives see: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
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- IP: : Youth all thumbs? David Farber (Mar 25)