# can tou type with your eyes closed? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 19, 2005, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-tou-type-with-your-eyes-closed/300133 "2005-04-19T21:40:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-tou-type-with-your-eyes-closed/300133/61 "2005-04-20T01:18:59Z")
(closed) Has this ever been done on the SDMB before? (open) It looks like I’ve got the hang of my laptop. (closed) Some stream of consciousnes just to make sure… Todat I got sdome filter coffee from costa coffee in ottakers. I also got a bacon and chickin#friskata’ thing which woul have been nice witrhout the chiken. I then went to work and when all the ‘work’ was done I watched Donnie Darko (the rest of) and then Dorrest Gump. After watching donnie darko I couldn’t help wearing a stupid grin like the one donnie wore many times in the movie. I recognided the way he talked in his ‘trancy’ bits as beinbg a lot like the way betryt drunkk people talk. (open) not bad. ---
**Author:** ![ErinPuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dbc845/32.png) [@ErinPuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ErinPuff)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-tou-type-with-your-eyes-closed/300133/62 "2005-04-20T01:20:59Z")
Okay, this me typing with my eyes closed. I learned how to touch-type from spending too much time on message boards as a young teenager. I only use the left shift key, though, for some reason, and I think the one on my laptop is starting to die as a result. Oh no. I frighten my dad by typing and having an unrelated conversation with him at the same time. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-tou-type-with-your-eyes-closed/300133/63 "2005-04-20T01:34:36Z")
Etes closed and also drunk: Yoday was my birthdat, and I hsavre to say the fun I’ve had with this thread alone has made it a good o. Aldo thid timr I hsvr sn rcvudr got bring ftunk. (eyes open) Ah, it seems I need to translate that last bit : “Also this time I have an excuse for being drunk” (eyes closed) I know it sounds sad to consider a birthdat posting to a message board to be a good one, vut I don’t make a bif deal of birthdats, so a day slightly better than the average day is a good birthdat to me. (open) I am a bit off on the location of ‘y’ it seems. ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-tou-type-with-your-eyes-closed/300133/64 "2005-04-20T02:18:59Z")
I think _everyone_ can type with their eyes closed. The tricky part is typing something that is readable. So…let’s see (with eyes closed) This is a test of the emergency typing system. Is it cheating if you peek after every sentnce? I don’t type while I;m looking, of couorse. (eyes open again) Hmm. Not bad. And the “couorse” doesn’t really count, because that happens when my eyes are open, too. My keyboard just like to add extra o’s after u’s. It only happens with this keyboard. ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-tou-type-with-your-eyes-closed/300133/65 "2005-04-20T02:24:51Z")
But I can’t type eyes open or closed. Probably close to 500k words online. Still can’t type. ---
**Author:** ![Roland\_Orzabal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@Roland\_Orzabal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roland_Orzabal)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-tou-type-with-your-eyes-closed/300133/66 "2005-04-20T02:32:29Z")
Oh, what the heck. [closes eyes] Four score and seven years ago, our forefathers did some stuff, and then they died. Now, though, we are faced with a crucial decison: can we allow the cheesemongers to continue their reign of terror if the technology exists to form plastic jars from sheep? I think the morality heere is twofold; 'course it isn’t always advisable to fold with pocket twos, but if the flop doesn’t help, I’m gone. Condenm me if you will. Here and now and there and back again, pleasant may your travels be, and wherever you are, make sure to be there. Be there, be aware, cut your hair, and don’t stare at bears. Unless of course you payed for season tickets, in which case don’t waste your hard-earned $$$. Personally, I prefer the Mets. [opens eyes] Hmm, not so bad. Fun, too! ---
**Author:** ![emekthian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecae2f/32.png) [@emekthian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emekthian)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-tou-type-with-your-eyes-closed/300133/67 "2005-04-20T02:42:56Z")
Fairly well. I know the posistions of the keys due to a good typing teacher in grade school. We used Mavis Beacon. I particularly liked the game where you typed words that corresponded with DNA and made a wierd conglomeration of animals. ---
**Author:** ![dearissues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/919ad9/32.png) [@dearissues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dearissues)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-tou-type-with-your-eyes-closed/300133/68 "2005-04-20T02:46:00Z")
(eyes closed) I’m fairly sure that I can type with my eyes closed. I was taught typing in the 5th grade and have used “home row” ever since. (eyes open) Heh, pretty good. My grammar seems to get worse, though! ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-tou-type-with-your-eyes-closed/300133/69 "2005-04-20T02:47:13Z")
I can type without looking at my hands, but my accuracy goes up when i’ve got the feedback of the screen. It’s easier to know whhether I’ve made a typo (I can hit the backspace key, or I can know for sure whether or not I hit that last “n” hard enough for it to have been read, rather than guessing at whether or not the computer knew what I typed.) So, kind of. I can definitely type with something covering up my hands, but I’d still like to look at the output. I typed this with my eyes closed. ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-tou-type-with-your-eyes-closed/300133/70 "2005-04-20T02:49:32Z")
Well, here goes nothing. I did learn to type in junior high, and we had silly little hand cover things to where we had to type without being able to see anything… but special characters still give me trrouble ---
**Author:** ![Dark\_Side\_of\_the\_Floyd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bb73d2/32.png) [@Dark\_Side\_of\_the\_Floyd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dark_Side_of_the_Floyd)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-tou-type-with-your-eyes-closed/300133/71 "2005-04-20T03:15:22Z")
Maybe I can, I’m not sure, I’m trying it right now, I suppose it will come out all odd looking… I never learned to type withour looking, and i’m sure it shjows. :looks: What do you know, it came out pretty decent. ---
**Author:** ![Dinaroozie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Dinaroozie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinaroozie)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-tou-type-with-your-eyes-closed/300133/72 "2005-04-20T03:53:13Z")
Okay, I’ll give it a shot. I logged in with my eyes shgut, so I don’t even know if I’m me right now. I guess all is well. Okay, here’s my pb]bold\*\* attempt at blind coding. I wonder if I was successful. Here’s hoping that I didn’t aaccidentally switch to Dvorak during that… _opens eyes_ Drat - my blind bolding was foiled. I did the italics blind too, though, so I take heart in that. And it would appear that I’m even logged in as who I said I was. Yeeha. ~ Isaac ---
**Author:** ![Keapon\_Laffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e274bd/32.png) [@Keapon\_Laffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keapon_Laffin)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-tou-type-with-your-eyes-closed/300133/73 "2005-04-20T05:01:13Z")
This sounds like fun. _eyes closed_ Man, this is so weird. I’ll probably be getting lots of weird looks from my colleagues as I’m ddoing this. I can see though, so its not bothering me. _eyes opened_ Not bad. Can = Can’t Hmm, didn’t feel the double tap. And I typed pretty fast too. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Telperien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Telperien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperien)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-tou-type-with-your-eyes-closed/300133/74 "2005-04-20T05:20:59Z")
I don’t know. It looks to me like everyone’s typing drunk. Those kinds of mistakes. Should be fun to see if Ican so it. Not type drunk, I mean. Type properly. (opens eyes) Cool. Only two mistakes. I usually don’t look at the keyboard, though, so it’s not that different. I do have to be careful, though, if I’m in IMs with more than one person. I always try to check carefully before I hit enter, since the time I really embarrassed myself by typing in the wrong window and sending without looking. ---
**Author:** ![Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bambi_Hassenpfeffer)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-tou-type-with-your-eyes-closed/300133/75 "2005-04-20T05:25:19Z")
I’m quite capable of typing with my eyes closed. I’m typing tis entire paragraph with my eyes closed. Oddly enough, I cannot look straight ahead with my eyes closed and type – I have to look off to the left or the right or left, as though I were typing while looking away. Probably because that is my default typing position, as I almost never look at the screen while I am typing, rather at the television or the desk to the lower right of my field of vision. However, I notice that I am typing slightly more slowly than I usually do with my eyes open, because I don’t have the visual stimulation of the television to help me focus. Open-eyed now. Hey, not bad. 1 mistake, up top with “tis” instead of “this”. ---
**Author:** ![GilaB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@GilaB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GilaB)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-tou-type-with-your-eyes-closed/300133/76 "2005-04-20T05:56:47Z")
Yes I think I should be able to type this with my eyes closed but I’d havetrouble with symbols and some of the numbers. Coding tas are probably beyond me. I can type whle looking away but not while talking to somebody else for a long period of time - I can’t do two verbal things at once. [eyes open] - Hmm. Somehow I forget to put in commas when I’m typing with my eyes shut. It’s not that I couldn’t find the comma key, it’s that I just didn’t bother. Odd. ---
**Author:** ![picker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/picker/32/13969_2.png) [@picker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picker)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-tou-type-with-your-eyes-closed/300133/77 "2005-04-20T06:16:00Z")
Well, I’ve never really tried it. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. Hey, that was pretty cool. I’m better at this than I thought. ---
**Author:** ![nivlac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3bc359/32.png) [@nivlac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nivlac)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-tou-type-with-your-eyes-closed/300133/78 "2005-04-20T07:24:51Z")
[close eyes]Sure I can. That’s what I learned in typing class ages ago. [/close eyes] However, occasionally I have my fingers placed incorrectly on the home keys and end up typing gibberish until I look up. I also peek when I type numbers or special characters because I was out sick when those keys were taught in class. I don’t even know if they teach typing in school anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Feydeau](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/df788c/32.png) [@Feydeau](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Feydeau)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-tou-type-with-your-eyes-closed/300133/79 "2005-04-20T07:26:26Z")
Yes, this is gun == a reat nisty exoeriunebt, Kivdabgm tiyre tge ciikesr fyt ib tge ciards, (eyes open) Oh, my. Transaltion: Yes, this is fun – a real neat experiment. Lobsang, you’re the coolest guy on the boards. Well, apparently, the answer is a resounding No. ---
**Author:** ![torie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@torie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/torie)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-tou-type-with-your-eyes-closed/300133/80 "2005-04-20T07:38:24Z")
i just want to say for the record that this is a din idea. Letrs see od ot wpeled. I like to tepw. I just cant do it cery wekk. I STARTED OUT SO WELL!!! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-tou-type-with-your-eyes-closed/300133.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-tou-type-with-your-eyes-closed/300133.md?page=5)