While traveling, I recently spent some time on a University campus in the US and sat in the Library reading room for a few hours. When I observed the students there for a while I noticed that none, not even a single one of them used a mouse with their computers. Instead, they were all using the touchpad of their notebooks while I was the only one in the reading room who actually had a mouse at the side of this computer.
Yes, in recent years, touchpads have become a lot bigger and much more usable so this really makes me wonder if the mouse will become a ‘generational thing’, just being used by those who started in computing before the advent of usable touchpads!?
I do use the touchpad of my computer, too, but only if there is no space to put a mouse next to it. But when I do it doesn’t feel comfortable. Another reason why I keep sticking to my mouse is that when I’m at home, the notebook is connected to a much larger screen and an external keyboard so I don’t even have a touchpad in front of me that I could use. I had a quick look on Amazon if there are good external keyboards with touchpads but that combination doesn’t really seem to exist.
On the other hand this makes me wonder if the ‘touchpad’ generation feels as awkward using a mouse as I do using touchpads!?
With the decline of Desktop Computers in private/personal environments there will also be a decline in the sales of external keyboards + computer mice (feels strange to use that plural 😉 ). I guess there will be much evolution in the near future with AR and VR and affordable convertibles.
However, i don’t think it will disappear in the next 10 years. corportate workplaces still use stationary computers a lot and also people like you and me still exist in a big enough number to create a demand for these peripherals, Although i can’t remember when i last bought a mouse or a keyboard, must be years ago!
For my own usage, it really depends on how and where i’m using my computer whether i need or want a mouse or not.
But I’m really wondering what the world will look like in 10 years when we look back to this article 😉
Do you use hotkeys/keyboard shortcuts? Most younger people I’ve seen don’t use them. Not even for very common tasks like copy+paste.
Yes, I use them heavily!