I was at a birthday dinner last week. Throughout the meal, there was healthy conversation back and forth across the table, but there was another conversation going on underneath the table too. No, it wasn’t the toddlers who could no longer sit still. Two of the younger adults were texting to each other, but surreptitiously.

I didn’t agree with what they were doing, but was too fascinated at the speed of messages back and forth. Yes, I know that the language typed is a kind of shorthand, but to see thumbs moving so adeptly from one tiny key to another was amazing.

When I have looked at tablets and onscreen keyboards, my first thought has always been about how awkward it would be to type, and I had visions of one finger typing while holding the tablet down with the other hand,  This is a sign of getting old, but wait !!

Onscreen tablet keyboards are not there to be used by all digits on both hands. They are set up for two THUMBS.

Mavis, just like me, your typing tutor is showing its age. Your tutor needs to reflect the way that computing is going and the direction is THUMBS..

And here is an ideal opportunity for a killer app. An onscreen keyboard split into the two lower corners of the screen.