[kfcm]

A couple weeks ago, I had some paperwork to do at a county Recorder's office. As I'm standing there writing, I heard the rough sound of gears turning 3 times, and a chunk-chunk-chunk. Sounds at once both familiar yet distant in memory. Sounds which were so common yesterday--if yesterday was 20 years ago--now almost shocking to hear.Without looking, I knew an IBM Selectric was being used to fill out a form.

I stopped writing and just listened for a bit, letting the keystrokes, the ball strikes, and the platen and roller movements take me back in time.

[jmduke]

I really like this comment.

If you don't mind, can you expand more? What do you associate typewriters with? How do you feel about their passage?

[keithpeter]

Offices: mostly Olympia mechanical desk typewriters with a solid and fairly quiet sound, some IBM Selectric(?) machines. Not continuous (I was a messenger and went from office to office) and the work was often typing into preprinted forms (bills of lading and telegraphic transfers for shipping cargo). Small rooms. You tended to have partitions in offices to isolate sound of typewriters (or may be just historical coincidence that the transition to open plan occurred around the same time as electrics/PCs came in).

Typing rhythm: my mother recovering from a stroke (early 40s) relearning typing on an ancient manual at home. The rhythm slowly getting more fluid as her speed increased and the hands synchronised.

How do I feel? Neutral. They just phased out into electric machines then early word-processors (Wangs with those printers in blimps to cut the noise down) then to regular PCs and some Macs for designers. I wasn't in offices too much during the transition phase, and I am not a trained typist. The sound of a manual typewriter links me back to early memories really quickly because of its rarity now.

[kfcm]

Thanks.

I associate typewriters with a different era, which really wasn't that long ago. An era where we weren't (all) slaves to our work. You worked hard during the day, and went home to a life at night or on weekends. And by life, I mean getting away from work and anything to do with it.

Today--with laptops, tablets, smartphones--that's nearly impossible. And not just for technologists either; business people are just as bad.

It's not regret to see the passage of typewriters, but of the era they represent.