That's the whole point of word processing, isn't it?

Frankly, at that early stage (and at this stage as well) none of us cared whether or not Mom's letters had typos. We were more concerned with her simply using the computer as a means of inputting information. We knew that cosmetic changes could come later. We saw Mom's use of a computer first and foremest as a means of maintaining contact with her children, and since typewriters were never foreign to our family we had no reason to fear that she might feel that the machine was getting between her and us rather than facilitating that contact. Many people, former neighbors included, find it highly impersonal to type letters. With many of the handwritings that I've seen I've been caused to wonder in return what's so personal about spending more time dechiphering a letter than actually reading it.

The pen, typewriter and computer are, in the long run, tools for getting thoughts and ideas onto paper (or into a usable digital format). As such Mom's typing errors (they weren't spelling errors but rather mistakes that occured while typing which she found it too complicated to try and go back and change) were actually proof that she had a correct fundamental understanding of what the computer was for. She knew that we'd go beyond the typing errors in order to find the content (hey, after receiving it we could have even sent the document to a spelling checker before reading it, and in that way get an almost clean copy) so that's what she focused on.
 


Go to: My Connected Mom