EUROPE — It looks like pounding your thumbs into that smartphone to type is catching up to the speed of typing on old school keyboards. <br />The Washington Post reported that according to a new study, double thumb typists hammer out on average of 38 words-per-minute, compared to 51.56 words-per-minute on physical keyboards. <br />Researchers from Finland's Aalto University, the University of Cambridge and ETH Zürich carried out the largest mobile typing study to date by testing 37,000 volunteers.<br />The study also found that smartphone typists who use auto-correct are quicker than those who use word-prediction tools. Aka—you can type faster if you ignore spelling. <br />Most mobile phone users type on their overpriced devices with one or two thumbs, while some apparently just use a single index finger. <br />No shocker here, 10- to 19-year-olds type about 10 wpm faster than older people in their 40s, regardless of whether the keyboard was on a phone or a computer. <br />Researchers also found that smartphone users left more uncorrected errors and use the backspace less. <br /><br />That's probably because it's an enormous pain in the behind to go back and change things when you're typing on your phone. <br />According to the Washington Post, smartphones may have some other ergonomic risks that we don't see with physical keyboards, such as neck, shoulder and grip issues. <br />And not to mention staring at the smartphone screen will probably make you go blind one day, but until that day comes, pound away.
