Go Dae-hyeon (18), a senior at a vocational high school, has three types of computer certificates related to PowerPoint, Excel and Hangul, but he still finds it difficult to type on a computer keyboard.

“I’ve used the smartphone more than a PC since I was in elementary school. Since there wasn’t much need to use a PC, naturally, I didn’t type that much either. I’m more comfortable with the smartphone keypad.” Go only uses seven fingers when he types on a computer keyboard. He can type about 200 letters per minute. At school, he is uncomfortable when the teacher gives out an assignment to read a book and summarize the book using a computer.

More and more teenagers born in the early and mid 2000s, who grew up with smartphones, find it difficult to use a computer keyboard. These adolescents are the first generation who entered elementary school in the 2010s when smartphones were widely used, and who grew up along with smartphones. They are referred to as the iGen, a name coined by combining iPhone with generation.

The aversion to computer keyboards became more apparent due to the spread of the novel coronavirus. Since the students did not attend in-person classes, they were asked to take online classes and submit their assignments online more often. Hong Ye-ju (18), a high school senior, said she often used her smartphone when doing her assignments.

She said, “When I had to write about what I felt after watching a video from the online platform for remote classes, I often watched the videos on my smartphone and wrote what I thought and posted it as a comment. I’m much more comfortable with the smartphone keypad than a computer keyboard.”

Go also said, “When I hand in my assignment, if I am given the choice of uploading a computer document file or submitting a picture of a handwritten assignment, I often choose the latter (because it’s hard to use a keyboard.).”

There were also more than a few people of the iGen who said they typed with only some of their fingers or one hand instead of using all ten fingers when typing on a computer keyboard. This was because they had fewer opportunities to learn to type. Jang Seong-jin (18), another high school senior said, “There are a lot of kids I know who only type with their index fingers,” and added, “I never learned how to type properly, either, so I only use one hand when I type.”

Teachers at school, the frontline of education, also said they were aware of a preference among students for smartphones over computers. Son Ju-seong (31), who teaches social studies at a high school in Bucheon, Gyeonggi said, “We hold a typing contest every year, since we are a vocational high school, but students seem to be slower than when I was a student.” He also said, “When we taught remote classes, a lot of the students attended using mobile devices and less than 10% attended the classes on a computer.” One study suggested that this was influenced by the recent trend in education, where the number of assignments requiring computers has dropped due to video assignments instead of documents.

A (32), a middle school teacher said, “These days, there are not a lot of assignments that require students to submit documents,” and added, “Except for games, there is less need to use computers than in the previous generation.”