Thinking about my exposure to various technologies, I immediately recalled 9th grade typing class. We plunked laboriously at awkward manual typewriters:
the quick brown fox, etc. My instructor, Miss Crumrine, had been my parents' typing teacher when they were in high school, and I can safely say she never anticipated the kinds of communication available right now. I still remember my first attempts at an electric typewriter--I struggled to stop striking the keys forcefully or hesitating too long on one key (how many times did I type,
theeeeee quick brown fox?)
In 1975, as a going-to-college gift, my parents gave me a portable, still manual, typewriter. Came in its own blue plastic suitcase and resembled this one:
I used that machine until I finally owned a computer at home.