Dear LPG,

I have been using and learning about computers for a while now. I used them at work before retiring and now, although not popular with most when looking for something to access online, I find that one of my favourite things to take a look at are statistics. I recently found a graph that opened up a few questions though.

The statistics I found appear to show that usage of mobiles and laptops are at over 40% while the poor old tablet only rates in the teens percentagewise.

I think that, the shift from using laptops and desktops has lifted one barrier that I used to find really frustrating. I used to find it really annoying to have to use the mouse pad or pointer when I wanted to move things on the screen and the fact that you can do this on a tablet or a phone using that very convenient invention, the touch screen-suited me beautifully. But it was not long before I became disenchanted with typing by touching the letters on the screen. To my mind there was something really ergonomic about the good old fashioned, full sized QWERTY keyboard and I soon found myself back with my laptop. Perhaps my fingers are just too big for the relatively small squares on the screen.

It is interesting that they never really went out of fashion in offices. When leaving the house these days one tends to make sure that you have some money, your keys and your mobile, and tablets come in handy for those who want to get information from the internet or shop on it, but offices and, statistically, many families still appear to favour a desktop or laptop computer at home.

I have also found that, although it is a bit old fashioned now, I have got use to using the mouse again. The keyboard is nice and low and somehow it is inconvenient to keep lifting your right hand to a practically vertical screen to touch this and that icon, which you often miss the first time.

I think that tablets are all very good for shopping and when it comes to writing emails, these days I just dictate and the tablet does the typing, but for some reason when I am doing those things having the screen flat on a table or on my lap works better. However, even though I am old, and have no reason to hurry, I get frustrated when having to wait for the computer to react. Correcting the mistakes that the computer makes takes time too. Perhaps my accent when dictating has something to do with that or it may be that, in general, older arms don’t point as steadily or as accurately as they used to and pointing can be a tiring business.

I am not altogether sure why, but the statistics seem to agree with me…

TK, Downham

TK, shares the statistics she found…

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