Hmm, no one picked up the free typewriter yet. Do I want to fix it just for the heck of it? 🤔
(what would I do with an old Selectric... put it next to the bicycles as garden art? 🤪 )
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***it kinda sucks sometimes to be among the minority of folks willing to fix and use old stuff, versus "buy something new". 🤨
@ai6yr What's the use case for a typewriter these days? For the longest time, well after the word processing era had taken hold, you'd see them in offices for occasional use on envelopes and pre-printed forms. But that seems to have fallen by the wayside in favor of address labels and pdf versions of forms.
@ai6yr A typewriter SEEMS like the sort of thing that would be occasionally useful, but I guess in normal business these days it actually just isn't.
sometimes, "useful" is the wrong metric. ;)
there are times when a typewriter, or even a fountain pen, adds to the experience.
@ai6yr But if I were a professional forger of old documents, I'd want a garage full of every model I could get my hands on.
@mattblaze @ai6yr
I can remember my dad setting the typewriter on his footstool and typing letters to family members.
@mattblaze @ai6yr As of ~7 years ago there was at least one group that still kept their membership and donor information entirely on typewritten index cards as a security precaution*, because I could sort of touch type and knew how to use a type writer I got drafted into that job a couple of times volunteering for them.
*whether this was effective is left as an exercise to the reader, but the file cabinets certainly weren't hackable via the internet
@mattblaze @ai6yr They’re becoming popular with people who want to write without distractions
@mattblaze @ai6yr I've heard of some people who use them to reduce ADHD distractions, and also related to concerns about government/corporate spying on electronic devices.
@Ashmire @ai6yr The track record of the IBM Selectric against government spying is decidedly mixed: https://www.cryptomuseum.com/covert/bugs/selectric/
@mattblaze @ai6yr I use typewriters to escape the constant distractions from my computer. Like right now I'm typing on Mastodon instead of doing meaningful work. Single purpose devices are extremely useful if you have ADHD, for example.
It's also awful if an "everything device" breaks, because then you can't do anything. Single purpose devices allow you to keep doing everything else if one device breaks.
Typewriters are also very nice for working outside in full sunshine.
