Right-handed or South Paw

Pika310·Oct 30, 2014·2 votes·687 views

Simple question. Are you right-handed? Or left-handed?

If you are a south paw, which hand do you hold your mouse in? What hand rests on the keyboard?

I myself am right-handed.

6 Comments

EMOFRATPARTYOct 30, 20142 votes

My dexterity is pretty unique, from what I know: I grew up mostly right-handed but became somewhat coordinated with my left side when I started playing football at age 11.

I was never able to do anything overly dexterous with my left hand/foot until my sophomore year of high school, when I randomly drew and wrote with my left in my math class. Combining that and repeatedly kicking footballs for 8 months (I wasn't a kicker or punter, though), I became fully proficient with my left.

When I started learning 3D animation the following year, I used my mouse in my left hand and keyboard in the right. I did that for two years, even swapping all of my hotkeys in 3DS Max, until I went to university. It became far too difficult to swap setups on a per-class basis, so I ended up swapping back to right-dominant computer usage.

Fast forward to being 23, I now use both hands nigh equally even though my left is now my "dominant" side. Weird story, but there you have it.

Pika310Oct 30, 20142 votes

That is an interesting story, I enjoyed reading it. I can see this happening, a person doesn't have to be born ambidextrous, it can be learned.

Common belief is that a person need be able to write with both hands to be, but actual definition is far more general. It states that being able to proficiently perform any significant task with both hands counts. Thus in a technical sense, anybody that can type, play an instrument or video games is ambidextrous to some degree.

EMOFRATPARTYOct 30, 20141 votes

True. But for me, I can do any activity with either hand. I think that's what may set ambidexterity apart.

Agent2090Oct 30, 20141 votes

I'm left handed, but was forced to learn to be right handed for some months during school due to a broken hand. I kept up the practice and soon became ambidextrous. Really helped out when I joined a baseball team, able to switch hit. I tended to have more power when hitting right handed while I hit more reliably on my left side.

As for gaming, I prefer using the mouse with my right hand.

Drunk RummateOct 30, 20141 votes

Around 1 in 10 people are left handed.

If you consider yourself ambidextrous it generally means you favor different hands for different activities. Rarely are people truly ambidextrous in that they don't care which hand they use.