Teachers Worry About Young People's Typing Skills
Young people today can download an app on their phone in seconds.
They can quickly make things like videos and music, and they might even be able to create an app themselves!
They're known as "digital natives" — that's a term for people who have grown up using digital technology.
But according to teachers, there's one thing many of them can't do very well: type on a keyboard.
The 22-year-old singer Billie Eilish told Rolling Stone this year that she never learned to type, and now she regrets it.
According to the US Department of Education, there has been a big decrease in the number of US high schools teaching typing.
That's despite a big increase in the use of technology in classrooms.
The department said that in 2000, 44% of students had taken a typing course before finishing high school. By 2019, only 2.5% had taken a typing course.
In August, The Wall Street Journal spoke to a number of young adults and teenagers about typing. Many said they have to take their time while typing on a computer keyboard, looking carefully to find the letters they want.
Among older generations, touch typing — using all of your fingers to type without looking at the keyboard — was often thought of as an important skill.
It's said one of the reasons young people are slower at typing is because they do a lot of their schoolwork on smartphones or tablets.
Some teachers think young people's typing speeds might cause them problems when they're writing long assignments at university, or working in a job that needs them to type a lot.
It might not be needed for all jobs, but experts still say being able to touch type can help people find better job opportunities.
