TOUCH Issue 8: Touch Technology: Friend or Foe?
sentences and paragraphs without
even looking at the typewriter (yes,
one of those ancient machines that
actually put ink to paper on each
stroke of a key.)
It’s easy to forget the feeling of
connecting with one key at a
time, or having to develop and
practice the dexterity and spatial
awareness necessary to type or
play an instrument… however it is
something that I believe is important
and very beneficial in our overall
development of touch.
You see, there is far more to touch
than simply getting an app to load
on your phone. As we become ever
more accustomed to smooth glass
surfaces for contact we’re losing
our ability to sense the more subtle
aspects of life through touch.
To u c h i s a n e s s e n t i a l w a y w e
communicate with, and gather
information from, our environment.
Physical touch profoundly
“In essence
we’re becoming
“visual touchers”;
we touch with the
expectation of a
visual result.”
influences our ability to discriminate
t he t ext ure, t emperat ure, si ze,
consistency, matter-state, position
and so forth. The more diverse your
touch vocabulary, the more detail
you gather through contact.
So even though we touch our
screens all-day every-day, the skill
and finer details of touch are being
lost. In essence we’re becoming
“visual touchers”; we touch with the