Conditioning or Convenience

What is an external mouse?

*discuss*

 

So instead of using the mouse on the laptop you use a separate mouse? For me that's probably more of a convenience thing than a posture thing, though I haven't used our laptop in months (mostly just desktop or phone).

 

A couple of years ago I had a work station assessment. I used a laptop on its own and an external mouse that I had bought for myself, knowing that the ones the organization would supply would be cheap and nasty. I wanted to select my own. At the assessment it was declared that I needed a laptop riser, a keyboard and a 'better' mouse. I started using the first two pieces of equipment and have now gotten used to them, especially the keyboard. I can type faster and make fewer mistakes (less frustration). I don't see this equipment as a prevention for RSI or back pain. If my back starts to hurt I know for darn sure that it is not because of my seating position or the way I am typing. As for the mouse I was bought this great big clunky thing which was also cheap and nasty. I threw it into the stationary cupboard and carried on using my own.

Well this week there has been major ructions at work that have involved my chair. Basically people keep pinching my chair and I have had to sit in a succession of broken ones. Again I don't see them as a potential for causing back problems. They are just so uncomfortable. If I am uncomfortable I will get grumpy and resentful. If I don't say anything, if I repress my feelings, they will come out inappropriately (will lash out at someone innocent like a family member) and I will turn them inward and THEN I will have lots of pain. This is exactly what happened this week. I did make a fuss and was allocated a chair. The health and safety bod sat me down, looked me over for a second and declared me good to go. That is, she thought the chair was ergonomically correct. I just rolled my eyes and thought "whatever!"

So I will keep using all my computer stuff for convenience knowing full well that it is not a prevention for structural problems in the same way that I do not see my migraine tablets as a cure for migraines.

 

I have a lap top with a regular monitor and cordless keyboard and mouse. LOVE the set up. And it's WORKING AGAIN - sorry I've been trying to write on here via my phone for a month now.

BG

 

Laptop touchpads (aka internal mouse) SUCK! My cursor jumps all over the place as the palm of my hand brushes the touchpad while I'm trying to type, but when I want to use the touchpad as a mouse, half the time it doesn't work. External wireless keyboard and mouse are the only way to go. Neither are ergonomic, not at home or at work, although I do use pull-out keyboard trays, which keeps the top of my desk free for paperwork or food.

BTW, learning to mouse with your non-dominant hand is a good exercise for your brain and it's a lot easier than learning to brush your teeth with your other hand. After more than ten years of teeth-brushing with my left hand, I find it's still more awkward than with my right hand, but mousing became 100% ambidextrous for me in almost no time. Let's see - almost 50 years of brushing my teeth vs. less than 10 years of mousing before switching hands...