# So - are you cool, like me, by using only the number keys along the TOP of your keypad... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 1, 2020, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-are-you-cool-like-me-by-using-only-the-number-keys-along-the-top-of-your-keypad/845733 "2020-01-01T19:01:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-are-you-cool-like-me-by-using-only-the-number-keys-along-the-top-of-your-keypad/845733/1 "2020-01-01T19:01:45Z")
…as oppposed to that useless, square cluster of keys on far right of keypad? Sure, I’m dating myself here by saying I learned on your basic typewriter that had the much smaller keypad, but still, get off my lawn, already! So what if shit can get tabulated, oh, a trillion times faster on the right. Still!..Get off! ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-are-you-cool-like-me-by-using-only-the-number-keys-along-the-top-of-your-keypad/845733/2 "2020-01-01T19:11:17Z")
You get off mine. I learned _typing_ on a basic typewriter, but I learned numeric input on a numeric keypad. I also learned the difference between a keypad and a keyboard. (Hint: a typewriter has the latter, not the former.) ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-are-you-cool-like-me-by-using-only-the-number-keys-along-the-top-of-your-keypad/845733/3 "2020-01-01T19:11:58Z")
Not useless to me. There are times when I have to type in a whole bunch of numbers, and the numeric keypad really comes in handy. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-are-you-cool-like-me-by-using-only-the-number-keys-along-the-top-of-your-keypad/845733/4 "2020-01-01T20:36:18Z")
Um, sorry - but why on earth would that make you cool? :smack: Surely a voice-controlled machine would be cool! 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-are-you-cool-like-me-by-using-only-the-number-keys-along-the-top-of-your-keypad/845733/5 "2020-01-01T20:40:12Z")
> [@glee](#): > > Surely a voice-controlled machine would be cool! :cool Yes, I will concede that would be infinitely cooler. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-are-you-cool-like-me-by-using-only-the-number-keys-along-the-top-of-your-keypad/845733/6 "2020-01-01T21:08:39Z")
My keyboard doesn’t have that waste of space keypad on the right. And I’m not getting off your lawn, since I was here first. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-are-you-cool-like-me-by-using-only-the-number-keys-along-the-top-of-your-keypad/845733/7 "2020-01-01T21:16:59Z")
I’ve never used it, so I’m not as fast using it. My younger sister uses it all the time, but, in her job, she used to key in a lot of numbers. I didn’t. Also, I learned to touch type on a manual (not electric!) typewriter, so I don’t feel that I’m losing all that much efficiency by not re-training myself. And now I’m old. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2020, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-are-you-cool-like-me-by-using-only-the-number-keys-along-the-top-of-your-keypad/845733/8 "2020-01-02T02:35:45Z")
None of my currently-used keyboards host a number pad. Laptops are like that. I learned typing long ago on manual Underwoods - my 8th grade typing class was interrupted by news of JFK’s shooting. I mastered typing on KSR-33 teletypes requiring about 50 pounds of pressure per keystroke and I reached 80 WPM on that. Yes, I could break doorknob locks with a mere wrist-twist. I think I last used a numeric keypad around 2003. I don’t miss it. ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2020, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-are-you-cool-like-me-by-using-only-the-number-keys-along-the-top-of-your-keypad/845733/9 "2020-01-02T02:52:54Z")
My Chromebook doesn’t have the 10-keypad, even embedded in the keyboard. Well, if it does, I haven’t found it yet. I can touch type, I can use a ten key by touch, but I have to LOOK at the blasted keyboard to find the numbers in the top row. I’m on the grass bexause some kid left his bike in the middle of the sidewalk. And GUESS what I just stepped in? ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2020, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-are-you-cool-like-me-by-using-only-the-number-keys-along-the-top-of-your-keypad/845733/10 "2020-01-02T02:53:17Z")
Sociopaths are fond of the numeric keypad. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2020, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-are-you-cool-like-me-by-using-only-the-number-keys-along-the-top-of-your-keypad/845733/11 "2020-01-02T02:59:21Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Sociopaths are fond of the numeric keypad. Says the guy who’s username is _beyond_ bipolar. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2020, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-are-you-cool-like-me-by-using-only-the-number-keys-along-the-top-of-your-keypad/845733/12 "2020-01-02T03:12:55Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > Says the guy who’s username is _beyond_ bipolar. :dubious: ```auto i have empathy ``` ---
**Author:** ![Personal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Personal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Personal)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2020, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-are-you-cool-like-me-by-using-only-the-number-keys-along-the-top-of-your-keypad/845733/13 "2020-01-02T03:22:20Z")
I use both about equally. When I started at a metro newspaper (it was actually two papers each with their own ownership a shared circulation department) in the 90s in the circulation department, one of my tasks was to enter press runs, which would entail entering a combination of letters and numbers. What I had to enter would change daily depending on the number of advertisements, size of the edition, etc. My boss asked me why I was entering the numbers using the top row and not the keypad. I told her it was just easier and faster that way. And if it had been just numbers, I would have used the keypad, but when you’re entering letters also, the keypad slows you down. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2020, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-are-you-cool-like-me-by-using-only-the-number-keys-along-the-top-of-your-keypad/845733/14 "2020-01-02T03:27:05Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > You get off mine. I learned _typing_ on a basic typewriter, but I learned numeric input on a numeric keypad. > [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Not useless to me. There are times when I have to type in a whole bunch of numbers, and the numeric keypad really comes in handy. Likewise, in both cases. Although I will use a mix if I need to hit TAB right after hitting a nearby single digit. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2020, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-are-you-cool-like-me-by-using-only-the-number-keys-along-the-top-of-your-keypad/845733/15 "2020-01-02T04:38:30Z")
I use the ones on top, but have to ‘hunt and peck’ them. And I’m not cool. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2020, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-are-you-cool-like-me-by-using-only-the-number-keys-along-the-top-of-your-keypad/845733/16 "2020-01-02T04:51:30Z")
I like the numeric keypad so much, the virtual keyboard on my phone has one. ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2020, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-are-you-cool-like-me-by-using-only-the-number-keys-along-the-top-of-your-keypad/845733/17 "2020-01-02T05:28:30Z")
I have a small keyboard without keypad so yeah. I don’t go around bragging about it though. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2020, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-are-you-cool-like-me-by-using-only-the-number-keys-along-the-top-of-your-keypad/845733/18 "2020-01-02T15:58:23Z")
I don’t have a keypad, so I don’t have a choice. But when I used a desktop computer more often I would use the keypad to put in any number with more than 5 digits. ETA: I.e. not the regular keyboard. ---
**Author:** ![CelticKnot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/celticknot/32/3392_2.png) [@CelticKnot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CelticKnot)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2020, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-are-you-cool-like-me-by-using-only-the-number-keys-along-the-top-of-your-keypad/845733/19 "2020-01-05T00:13:39Z")
I just got a new laptop, and it doesn’t have the number pad my old one had. I miss it very much. I don’t really touch type, but I don’t need to look at my keyboard often. Numbers, on the other hand, require change of posture to see them. Cool? I got a new (refurbished) LAPTOP, not a notebook or a Chromebook. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2020, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-are-you-cool-like-me-by-using-only-the-number-keys-along-the-top-of-your-keypad/845733/20 "2020-01-05T00:31:44Z")
I use the number keys across the top of the keyboard, but I am definitely not cool. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-are-you-cool-like-me-by-using-only-the-number-keys-along-the-top-of-your-keypad/845733.md?page=2)