[taylodl]

Having grown up at a time where I was forced to use typewriters and listen to vinyl LP records, I don't wax so nostalgic over those old technologies. As soon as I got my Commodore 64 and my Star Gemini 10x dot matrix printer, I never used a typewriter again!

Vinyl took a little longer to get off of as I had (and still have) a fairly significant vinyl collection.

[freedomben]

I'm with you on the vinyl, and I was with you on the typewriter until a few years ago when I was looking through a museum and they had a typewriter that could be used by the guests. It was a little older than the typewriter I had to use as a kid before getting a computer, but not radically different.

Typing on it was at first nostalgic, but I quickly realized I was typing way more steadily and efficiently (far fewer mistakes) than I do on a modern keyboard. After continuing to use it I realized there really is something important in the physicality there. There's also a lot of value I think in the "distraction free" nature of the typewriter. It's not going to deluge me with notifications about email and slack messages I'm constantly receiving.

That said, I do think I'd get very frustrated if I had to type on it when tired or rushed as mistakes are far more costly on a typewriter than a modern computer. It's certainly not the panacea that nostalgia makes many of us think it will be, but I do think there's real benefit in it.

[mberlove]

Can I ask, do you find that the benefits that other respondents are claiming (maybe younger respondents) are artifacts of a wishful thinking? Is it possible that the benefits are somewhat real, but come with downsides? I'm not leading in any one direction, but I am curious if the experience is more objective or subjective.

[taylodl]

Could be a couple things:

1. ASMR. Typewriters make a nice sound as you type. A lot of people like it. With regards to vinyl LPs, while growing up a friend of mine always remarked how much the static reminded him of a crackling fire. He felt like you were listening to music beside a fire.

2. I grew up in a time when these were simply the tools we had. I'd already learned how to be mindful about doing work - the tools forced us! I learned how to write and compose without the benefit of a computer. I learned photography at a time when I processed my own film and made my own prints in a darkroom. I know that experience has greatly affected how I approach digital photography. Younger people might simply be getting a thrill learning what I learned decades ago. Maybe they appreciate a completely different approach to achieving the same thing? With an entirely different workflow? That might give them new insights.

There are still aspects of the old that I like and prefer. For example, I still prefer books over screens. I still write notes on pen and paper and later transcribe them to my computer because I've learned I'll retain the information better if I actually physically write it down. When recording music, I prefer to use Audacity because it's like using the computer as a giant R2R and I get a more natural sound. I still shoot digital cameras in manual mode (or semi-automatic depending on the situation) because I like to control the different technical aspects of the shot. Stuff like that.

[brudgers]

I'm not younger and listened to records and used a typewriter. I have a typewriter because it creates an environment that is not a computer. Unlike a phonograph, a typewriter is an entire ecosystem less commodity supplies (a phonograph is useless without the activity selecting and acquiring and storing records).

I don't recommend getting a typewriter. If someone wants to try one, they will do it. And if someone doesn't they won't. They are not for everyone and there is no moral distinction between those two groups.