Researchers also looked at how some typing aids, like spellcheck and predictive text, could help or hurt our typing speeds. So using the “hunt-and-peck” method - that birdlike dance some typists do with their pointer fingers - is not the most efficient. Those who typed with both thumbs had the highest typing speed, 38 wpm, while those typing with both their index fingers reached 32.6 wpm. Participants noted if they took the test with one finger, two fingers, their thumbs or index fingers. Participants 10 to 19 years old knocked out 39.6 wpm on their phones, while those aged 50 to 59 only clocked in at 26.3 wpm.ĭifferences in typing styles may have contributed to speed gaps as well. On average, those who spoke English as their first language reached 37.8 wpm, while those who sometimes used English reached 30.4 wpm.īut when it came to comparing ages between typists, the difference was more extreme. The typing tests were in English, so the researchers did see a difference in speed between participants who were native speakers and those who were not. For this new study, the research team from Aalto University in Finland and ETH Zürich in Switzerland also analyzed results from 160 countries around the globe, with participants ranging from 10 to 59 years old. And the sample size skyrocketed to 37,370 participants. The new findings gather data from real-world typists, instead of those in a lab setting. Many former typing studies also contain much smaller sample sizes, sometimes low as 32 participants. Typing rates collected from participants taking a test via an app on their phone were closer to 30 wpm.
The Kids Are All RightĪ previous study put the average mobile typing speed at around 28 to 39 wpm - but these higher speeds were observed in lab settings. The find implies that young people are closing the so-called “typing gap” between our speeds on mobile devices and physical keyboards. That’s in comparison to keyboards, where most modern-day typists reach an average speed of 52 wpm, according to a 2018 study from the University of Cambridge.Īnd the researchers on this latest study found young mobile users are out-typing their parents by about 10 wpm on their devices - a sign that the younger generations won’t be slowing down anytime soon. And young people aged 10 to 19 are now averaging a whopping 40 wpm. New research presented Wednesday at the MobileHCI conference in Taiwan reveals that people who type with both thumbs on a mobile device average about 38 words per minute (wpm). And as time goes on, scientists say our typing speeds are increasing - possibly more than previous studies predicted. But fast-forward almost two decades later, and we can type out everything from texts to emails on our smartphones. Texting on a flip phone keyboard in the early 2000s wasn’t a speedy affair.