The Crime of the Century

The humble Computer mouse was a revolutionary advance in the human/computer interface. Sitting alongside the keyboard, the mouse allows “pointing” at things on screen. And “clicking” when you’d like an action taken. With it, windows slide around, context menus open. The mouse is can be critical to people’s “computer workflow”. However, it comes with a grave cost - your time.

The interruptions required to switch between the keyboard and mouse are mentally expensive. Intentions that arise instantaneously (“I want to save document now!”) take orders of magnitude longer to execute. Your mental flow is paused while your brain facilitates the mouse manipulation. Again, and again, and again.

When writing code, these “interruptions” to typing flow happen frequently (navigation, finding usage, finding implementations, breakpoints, etc). While you may get really good with the mouse, the context switching brings a heavy cost. A load upon your back that you’ve forgotten is there. A weight shackled to your ankle.

It is time to shake this mouse off your back, and free yourself!

An Innocent Beginning

When learning a system, mice make things easier (at first). You are new to the software, and don’t have time to learn keyboard shortcuts (yet!). With well designed-software, you can often learn by just clicking around. Opening menus, exploring navigation. This intuitive process provides a warm blanket, and lulls you to sleep. But you’re paying a hidden price. Once you know the software, keyboard shortcuts offer faster execution, and eliminate interruptions the mouse requires.

Why doesn’t everyone use them all the time? Because the cost of these “papercuts” seems acceptable. Each “mouse interruption” only takes a few seconds, while learning keyboard shortcuts could take minutes. Hours even. It doesn’t seem worthwhile to invest the time. But if you were to sum a day’s worth of “mouse interruptions”, they would easily surpass the cost of learning keyboard shortcuts. When you use shortcuts day after day (and year after year), the savings in interruption costs skyrockets.

It’s like a subscription to that site you signed up for years ago, now forgotten, costing $2.99 a month for eternity. Too much trouble to track down the cancellation mechanism, so you keep paying. And it keeps adding up.

So you keep using the mouse. All the while, your time slips away. “Where do the years go?”, you type in an email. “How did we get so old?” Then you reach for the mouse, slide the pointer up the screen, and click the “send” button.

The Forgotten Path

Ah, the keyboard. Descended from the noble typewriter, and perfectly matched to your hands. You are already using it for the majority of your work. Infinite combinations await - you “barely have to lift a finger”. You can create any word in the blink of an eye. With combinations, the possibilities skyrocket. Any intention under the sun can be captured with a few fingers.

The mouse involves moving your big arm around, and clicking with a single finger. We think it’s easy, because our brain performs the heavy lifting. But under the covers, it’s a complex synchronization. Big muscles are involved, bringing a much larger expenditure of energy. Joints are called upon to support the additional weight. Flow stops each time. Again, and again, and again.

Tortoise vs the Hare

It may be helpful to provide an example scenario, and illustrate why the keyboard is far superior for your computer input needs.

Let’s say you’re typing a document (thank your trusted keyboard), and you need to save your work. Who hasn’t lost work because they took too long between saves? The experienced writer knows to save early and often!

Here’s what that looks like in the two worlds:

Mouse User (imagine the scene from “Zootopia” in the DMV with Flash the Sloth): After an extended series of typing on the keyboard to record complicated thoughts, your internal clock realizes you haven’t saved for a bit. Your brain pauses it’s “type on keyboard” neural pattern, and activates the “move mouse” program. Slowly, your gigantic arm lifts, moves your hand to the mouse, and lowers it to the mouse surface. Your skin and hand register that contact has been made, and dutifully report the sensation to your brain. Delighted, your brain heightens attention on the visual cortex subsystem, pivoting your eyes to the “Save” button’s location on the screen. Once the target button is acquired, the arm/wrist/hand system begin sliding in a particular direction, and the mouse pointer climbs up the screen. Eons later, the pointer arrives at the intended destination. Your brain has been waiting for this moment - it halts your arm, and triggers the the “index finger click” algorithm. At great expense to the stability of your carpal tunnel, your finger presses down on the resistant left mouse button. The document is saved, panic subsides! Your brain can now revert to keyboard mode, and hopefully pick up the thread where you left off. It begins moving your hand back to the keyboard…

Keyboard User: Ctrl-S. You don’t even need to interrupt your mind flow. Just interject a quick command for the computer to take action. Streamlined, immediate, orders of magnitude faster.

Is there any contest here? Your brain on mice is swimming across the ocean, when there’s a cruise ship available. You are pulling information from a far away network, when you already have it in memory. Orders of magnitude faster! Again, and again, and again.

Unleash your Fingers' Potential!

I hope this piece has awoken your mind to your true potential. Your brain stoically carries the weight of the mouse, and may even think it’s the better choice. But now you know better. Time for you to convince your brain of a better path!