Then I came home and was harshly beaten by my own son on Flight Control (an excellent iTouch app). As I watched the patricide take place, I noticed that he was using his thumb to maneuver the planes to safety, while I use my index finger.
In trying to defend of my index finger, I vaguely remembered something about Ken Jennings attributing at least part of his Jeopardy winning streak to using his index finger instead of his thumb. So I fired up my Google search engine only to find this article where Bob Harris interviews Bradford Rutter, biggest winner in the history of Jeopardy. Bob asks Brad the very question I'm pondering:
Bob: Thumb or index finger?Being a digital imigrant, versus my son, the young guy at my eye doctor's office, and Bradford Rutter, who are all digital natives, I can't help but wonder if the texting, calculating, flight controlling, buzzing-in thumb is the new opposable thumb. And if so, I better learn how to use it, before I become extinct.
Brad: I'm a thumb guy. I know a lot of people like yourself swear by the index, but I'm a thumb loyalist.
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Uh oh. If that's true, then I just hampered myself big time. I just picked up the clarinet for the first time in years, and now my right thumb feels cut in half. (The weight of the instrument rests on that one finger, and mine lost the pad a decade ago.)
ReplyDeleteInteresting observation.
Be careful. Those woodwind induced calluses take time to build up. That's why I stuck with brass instruments. Thanks for your comment.
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