Why do we still use qwerty keyboards?

[Shurikens and Lightning]

Today I saw my little cousin typing on the keyboard in frustration. She does know her alphabet but still hasn't learned how to properly type. In frustration she asked me why do we still have QWERTY keyboards, and to that I had no real response.

After researching it I realized it was because typewriters would jam a lot with a ABC layout so QWERTY was designed to minimize this. Now escapist, I for one can say I have never used a typewriter and am pretty sure they aren't a common occurrence at this point.

While it would be a hard change I feel that it would help in the long run. Gaming might have some troubles since we all are used to WASD to move but I think we can adjust. You do see ABC layouts on many devices nowadays but many keyboards still stick with this confusing system.

Does the escapist have an answer for this?

EDIT: I have noticed most of you are saying stuff that had to do with typewriters. Let us not forget that another thing QWERTY was famous for is slowing us down when we type. Is that a good thing? This is the 21st century using a 19th century technique on a obviously obsolete system. I believe we need a change to take advantage of computers and not typewriters.

 

[WrongSprite]

After researching it I realized it was because typewriters would jam a lot with a ABC layout so QWERTY was designed to minimize this. Now escapist, I for one can say I have never used a typewriter and am pretty sure they aren't a common occurrence at this point.

Actually I'm fairly sure the keys are arranged to make typing commonly used words faster.

Anyways, point is, we're all used to it.

 

[El Poncho]

I'm used to the keyboards like this, I would be is distraught(is that the word i'm looking for? Did I even spell it right?) when typing.

 

[NuclearPenguin]

We all love qwerty keyboards.

 

[Cherry Cola]

QWERTY is an awesome word.

 

[andrat]

After researching it I realized it was because typewriters would jam a lot with a ABC layout so QWERTY was designed to minimize this. Now escapist, I for one can say I have never used a typewriter and am pretty sure they aren't a common occurrence at this point.

Actually I'm fairly sure the keys are arranged to make typing commonly used words faster.

Anyways, point is, we're all used to it.

No the letters that jammed most often were arranged furthest away from each other.

 

[Julianking93]

I enjoy my keyboard layout and I can type at around 80 words per minute I think.

 

[NeutralDrow]

Momentum, and the fact that QWERTY keyboards aren't actively hostile to typing.

I've heard that DVORAK keyboards are supposed to be more helpfully arranged, but I don't know for sure. In fact, I don't even know if that's what they're called. Every time I type that name, New World Symphony starts playing in my head.

 

[Cherry Cola]

After researching it I realized it was because typewriters would jam a lot with a ABC layout so QWERTY was designed to minimize this. Now escapist, I for one can say I have never used a typewriter and am pretty sure they aren't a common occurrence at this point.

Actually I'm fairly sure the keys are arranged to make typing commonly used words faster.

Anyways, point is, we're all used to it.

No the letters that jammed most often were arranged furthest away from each other.

I'm also pretty sure the QWERTY-layout resulted in typing faster.

 

[Xorghul]

Huh. Didn't know that and hadn't really thought about why it was laid out as it was. But QWERTY sounds funnier than ABC so I'll stick with that. Plus I'm quite used to QWERTY.

 

[blankedboy]

It's fun. If we switched, everything would feel weird.

 

[Pielikey]

I guess it just stuck? Eventually it's not hard to find all the keys once you get used to it.

 

[Jdopus]

It's because if we switched it would result in us losing all the current typing skills the population holds. It's just too much hassle for little benefit. You'd have to retrain all typists and everyone's typing would slow to a crawl initially. The Short run problems are too numerous to make it viable.

 

[AWC Viper]

did you know that "typewriter" is the longest word using only one line of keys (top row).

OP: there is no point in changing it now, its too common. and i don't want to have to buy a new keyboard.

 

[OmegaXIII]

I can't really imagine using anything different from QWERTY now

 

[heiders]

QWERTY was designed to slow down proficient (fast) typists to prevent key jamming on typewriters. Other layouts are less common, however DVORAK is one that is optimized to increase the speed of typing. For more info, try http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyboard_layout

 

[douf]

why fix what isnt broken.... tell your cousin to stop whining and spend few hours practicing .. even my moms know how to use a keyboard for fucks sake.

 

[MetaKnight19]

It would be weird to have a different keyboard now that I'm so accustomed to using a QWERTY layout. One problem is that my 'Q' key has snapped off and I can't find it, so whenever I have to type something with the letter Q in it, I have to push down on this very small rubber thing.

 

[Z of the Na'vi]

I can't even think of a keyboard that ISN'T QWERTY.