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This isn't even about having poor dexterity, it's about having poor sewing skills. I would guess that most people's fine motor skills are actually better now th

This isn't even about having poor dexterity, it's about having poor sewing skills. I would guess that most people's fine motor skills are actually better now than in the "old" days just because of how much people type on phones and computers.

gpm 8y ago
I would guess that our "motor" skills are as good or better, but that our "tactile feedback sensing and response" is far worse. Not only are we not training it at all, we are abusing it with weird signals all the time in the form of vibration motors. I would separately guess that "tactile feedback and response" is harder to find and more important for a surgeon than "fine motor control", though obviously they do need both.
kazinator 8y ago
Typing on real keyboards with all ten fingers is quite a different engagement of dexterity than dabbing at a screen with two thumbs, or just an index finger.
iaw 8y ago
To me, typing on a phone is a lot easier to learn in terms of dexterity than threading a needle.
- mrguyorama 8y ago
  I'm not convinced. My mother can thread a needle just fine, but the keyboard on an iPhone is very tiny, and she often produces incorrect keystrokes. Next time I am intoxicated, I should (unscientifically) test this by comparing the difficulty of threading a needle with that of sending an accurate and correct text message
  - kd0amg 8y ago
    I have found the position of my finger in relation to a touchscreen has a substantially weaker correlation with successfully pressing the button I want than the position of the thread in relation to a needle's eye has with successfully threading the needle.
dredmorbius 8y ago
By that logic, we're all far better piano players too. Skills and neural pathways have training and use specificity. Even (or especially) slightly different practices can have surprisingly little transfer, or even interference.
- RandallBrown 8y ago
  That's not the logic I was using. Using your piano example, I was saying that people would be better at learning to play the piano today, because our fingers are already used to pressing keys.

gpm 8y ago

I would guess that our "motor" skills are as good or better, but that our "tactile feedback sensing and response" is far worse. Not only are we not training it at all, we are abusing it with weird signals all the time in the form of vibration motors. I would separately guess that "tactile feedback and response" is harder to find and more important for a surgeon than "fine motor control", though obviously they do need both.

kazinator 8y ago

Typing on real keyboards with all ten fingers is quite a different engagement of dexterity than dabbing at a screen with two thumbs, or just an index finger.

iaw 8y ago

To me, typing on a phone is a lot easier to learn in terms of dexterity than threading a needle.

mrguyorama 8y ago
I'm not convinced. My mother can thread a needle just fine, but the keyboard on an iPhone is very tiny, and she often produces incorrect keystrokes. Next time I am intoxicated, I should (unscientifically) test this by comparing the difficulty of threading a needle with that of sending an accurate and correct text message
- kd0amg 8y ago
  I have found the position of my finger in relation to a touchscreen has a substantially weaker correlation with successfully pressing the button I want than the position of the thread in relation to a needle's eye has with successfully threading the needle.

dredmorbius 8y ago

By that logic, we're all far better piano players too. Skills and neural pathways have training and use specificity. Even (or especially) slightly different practices can have surprisingly little transfer, or even interference.

RandallBrown 8y ago
That's not the logic I was using. Using your piano example, I was saying that people would be better at learning to play the piano today, because our fingers are already used to pressing keys.