Do you mouse with your left hand?

#1

Post by cranky908canuck » Mon, Dec 27, 2021, 6:55 AM UTC

tl;dr: do you put your mouse on the left, regardless of your 'handedness'?

I'm right handed [note 1] but have put the mouse on the left for more years than I want to say.

When mousen were new, my gripe was, "now I need to flop back and forth from the mouse to the Enter/Arrow/etc" cluster, and that's Just Too Hard". Then I found that if the mouse is left of the keyboard, under the left hand, here we go!

Never looked back.

Upside: Two-handed driving: (example) websites: bigscale navigation with the mouse, fine tuning with the arrows, and no need to switch hands.

Downside: (example) On Other People's Machines, fancy mousen that are RH-specific don't work when playing "pass the keyboard (and mouse) [note 2]".

Not sure: "It feels natural": So many years that it's only anecdotal.

I seem to see (or used to, pre-Covid!) that left-mousing (regardless of other aspects of 'handedness') is a minority preference.

So, the question: if you have explored this, what has been your experience?

Notes:

[note 1] I have parents and siblings who are left-handed, but I am "right-handed" based on Intertubes(tm) questionnaires, and day-to-day preferences (knife&fork, etc). I guess that there could be some flexibility from that genetic inheritance.

[note 2] I don't use a 'left handed' mouse (it's a vanilla symmetric thing, and cheap!), and I don't swap the buttons (so, all I need to do at the library/kiosk is pull the cable to the other side). I see this as important: maintain 'lowest common denominator' compatibility.

Re: Do you mouse with your left hand?

#2

Post by kengor » Mon, Dec 27, 2021, 7:12 AM UTC

I started to get repetetive strain injury in my right hand sometime last century from drawing with a mouse. I'm an animator so that was a bad thing. Got a wacom for the right hand and started to mouse with the left hand.Turns out both at once is a good way to work. Mouse is better for 3D work that requires precise clicking, and the wacom just nails the process of drawing on a computer. Keyboard sits at the top of the wacom when I need it. Did not take long to learn to be ambidextrous.

Re: Do you mouse with your left hand?

#3

Post by themodelplumber » Mon, Dec 27, 2021, 7:32 AM UTC

That's really cool. I can't say I've tried it, but I remember how cool it was to try the trackball (thumb version) for RSI. It really helped my wrist, but also I could place it just about anywhere, like in front of the keyboard, which was often a very natural feeling.

I'll have to give the other-handed mouse a try, see how it goes. Thanks.

Re: Do you mouse with your left hand?

#4

Post by GianFabien » Mon, Dec 27, 2021, 11:09 AM UTC

Years ago I started to suffer from carpal tunnel pain. It was painful to maintain fine mouse movements and click the buttons. Typically the finger movement to click a button would make the mouse move away from where I wanted to click. And the pain in the wrist.

Solved it by placing the mouse on the left with the tracking window covered. I have a trackball for the right hand. So I position the cursor my moving the trackball, lift my finger and then click or wheel with the left hand. Can still click with the trackball if my hand is over the keyboard for infrequent operations. Don't have to think about it and no more wrist pain.

Re: Do you mouse with your left hand?

#5

Post by adevx » Mon, Dec 27, 2021, 11:51 AM UTC

I used to switch my mouse to the left when my right hand started to hurt. I even used a rope to prevent my right hand from being able to reach the mouse on the left as switching always took me a bit of getting used to.

No sure if I no longer do this because I switched to a Magic Trackpad or because I no longer work behind my laptop for hours on end.

Re: Do you mouse with your left hand?

#6

Post by _ah » Mon, Dec 27, 2021, 12:14 PM UTC

I use two mice: one on each side of the keyboard. Then I can switch hands at will.

Re: Do you mouse with your left hand?

#7

Post by jrootabega » Mon, Dec 27, 2021, 12:16 PM UTC

My left leg/back have been weak and painful for a decade or two, and I suspected it was from using my mouse right handed for just as long and twisting my body accordingly. The guy at physical therapy said they switch their mouse over to the other hand every now and then to avoid that.

Re: Do you mouse with your left hand?

#8

Post by yoz-y » Mon, Dec 27, 2021, 12:48 PM UTC

No, but I do use an external trackpad left of my keyboard. Mainly for drawing programs and sometimes for scrolling. Otherwise I try to (but often fail) to use keyboard shortcuts as much as possible.

Re: Do you mouse with your left hand?

#9

Post by cableshaft » Mon, Dec 27, 2021, 2:00 PM UTC

I'm left-handed in most things, including writing. I tried to be a left-handed mouse user for a while, but it didn't stick. Got to be too much of a pain to switch constantly with corded mice on a shared computer at home and at school. Eventually I just became more precise with my right hand and stuck with it.

It does seem a bit weird that my left hand is much more precise with writing and my right hand is much more precise with a mouse, but oh well.

Funny enough my left hand is the hand that started getting finger joint pains. I think it might have been because of hands on the WASD keys for movement in video games had something to do with it, though. I switched to a controller and they seem to slowly be getting better.

Re: Do you mouse with your left hand?

#10

Post by taxcoder » Mon, Dec 27, 2021, 2:01 PM UTC

Trackball user here, with a cheap wireless mouse siting on the desk for variety. I use my left hand most of the time so the right can stay on the number pad, arrows, and enter key. During my busy season I often work eighty hours in six days and then I will switch the trackball or sometimes the mouse to the right to give the left a break, depending on the task I am working on.