Relearning second nature.
After about six years driving a car with an automatic transmission I've recently returned to a standard transmission and have had to relearn how to step on the clutch and put the car in the proper gear. It's not that hard to do (the hard part is keeping my foot on the clutch when driving in traffic, which happens all to frequently) but I often still have to think about what I'm doing, almost saying to myself outloud "now go into third", or "am I still in fifth? I should have down-shifted long ago!". Should having this experience with discovering that "second nature" doesn't come naturally enough cause me to be a bit more lenient toward internet ingenues who are having a hard time internalizing the basics of e-mail? Perhaps. But in my own defense I can claim that despite my feelings of being rusty with the gear shift, I still succeed in driving the car without difficulty. If my students would be able to successfully manipulate the various commands needed for sending and receiving e-mail, I'd see nothing wrong about their having an internal stutter.
Go to: Two or three letters a month isn't exactly using, or
Go to: I didn't really intend to use it!, or
Go to: You mean you teach this stuff?