This, so much. I learned to type on a typewriter. I sadly don’t remember the brand or model as I was a kid, but in my house, we used it /kind of/ as one would

This, so much. I learned to type on a typewriter. I sadly don’t remember the brand or model as I was a kid, but in my house, we used it /kind of/ as one would use a printer now. We did not type stuff from scratch there. Too expensive (IIRC paper was more of a problem than the ink ribbon, but again, I was a kid). We wrote on paper, by hand, and typed things up when they were ready in their final form. I love love /loved/ that typewriter and would love to have it now to use it every now and then (not sure to write what though, I’m not a writer), but I feel there’s a bit of cargo-cult writing now involving them. As you say, writers used the tool they had at hand. It was no life hack to use a typewriter, it was just better to share text than handwriting for most people.