You’re probably wondering, why would anyone feel the need to look up “random tips for lefties”?
In a world of about 7.8 billion people, only 10% are left-handed. Left-handers or lefties are individuals who prefer to use their left hands as their dominant hand. The right hemisphere of our brains controls the muscles of the left side of our bodies. It is responsible for our ability to reason, pay attention, remember things and solve problems. Additionally, the right hemisphere of our brain also enables us to have imagination, intuition, art, and music awareness. Therefore, left-handed individuals, such as myself, are said to be more creative.
Although we comprise only 10% of the world population, there are many lefties who we know of. Some renowned left-handers include, but are not limited to:
- Angelina Jolie
- Keanu Reeves
- Justin Bieber
- Gordon Ramsay
- Lisa Kudrow
- Bill Gates
- Brad Pitt
- Tina Fey
- Hugh Jackman
- Barack Obama
- Lady Gaga
- Mark Zuckerberg
- Jennifer Lawrence
- Bruce Willis
- Jim Carrey
- Nicole Kidman
- Matt Dillon
- Oprah Winfrey
- Morgan Freeman
Even though left-handers exist, much of everything is designed to be convenient for right-handed individuals. Have you seen those seats that have a desk attached to them? I remember having to get accustomed to such right-handed seats in classrooms because that’s what we had for the majority. Similarly, I would have to work using a right-handed computer set-up for my computer science classes too. As a result, I can only use my right hand to use a mouse, like my fellow left-handed classmates. Other common instances could be how writing in spiral notebooks and binders could be extremely difficult for lefties, or how keyboards have number pads on the right.
So, to answer the question asked in the beginning, it’s not a need per se. Rather, it could just be out of curiosity. Over the years, such instances have made me wonder about life hacks that could make life easier for us. Hence, this article looks into some random tips for lefties.
Random Tips For Lefties
One-Handed Keyboards
Did you know that you could change your keyboard to help you type with one hand? Most of us often tend to use our dominant to hold a phone and type. As the keyboard is wider, it can be quite challenging to type with one hand. You can change the keyboard settings of your phone to enable one-hand typing depending on your dominant hand. For left-handed iPhone users, the option to do so lies in the General tab of the Settings app. Select the Keyboard tab and you’ll find the One-Handed Keyboard tab. Here, you can select the option to either turn it off or turn your current keyboard into a left-handed keyboard or a right-handed keyboard. You can also access these settings by pressing and holding the Emoji key or Globe key on the keyboard.
Look For Left-Handed Features
Nowadays, a lot of apps support features to accommodate left-handed people. For instance, Procreate, which is one of the many apps people use to make digital illustrations, has a bar on the left side of the screen by default. This bar contains the option to increase the size and opacity of the brush currently being used. Additionally, it also contains the undo, redo, and color selection buttons. Even if you’re not an artist or illustrator, you can tell that these are pretty vital options for anyone wanting to draw digitally.
However, because this bar is located on the left side of the screen, it can get quite bothersome for left-handed users. This is because, as we write or draw across the screen, our hands slide from left to right. Therefore, left-handed users are more prone to tapping undo or redo buttons or changing the size and opacity of the brush accidentally. To prevent that from happening, left-handed Procreate users can change the side the bar is located on by simply tapping on the Actions option on the top of the screen, which is the wrench icon. Select the Preferences option from there and turn Right-Hand Interface on. Consequently, you’ll see that the bar is now on the right side of the screen.
Binders
As mentioned previously, writing on spiral notebooks or binders can be a complete nightmare for left-handed people. However, if you do like using such notebooks to study, you can use this life hack to do so. Simply write on loose pages, punch holes on them and attach them all in a binder. Similarly, if your spiral notebook is a binder itself, then just take the pages out to write on them and then put it back. This life hack has made writing notes easier for me. If you try this, be sure to let us know in the comments!
Ensure Smudge-Free Writing
When we left-handed people write, our hand slides across the page as we write, from left to right. Hence, sometimes, we tend to smudge whatever we have written. This is such a bummer, especially if you had one shot in writing. This can be seen in the case of writing on a form. Hence, the kind of pens we choose to use is really important. To tackle such issues, I would suggest left-handers such as myself to use roller-ball pens instead of gel or fountain pens. You can also eliminate the problem of smudged writing by writing notes digitally.
Bonus Tip! This is more of a general writing tip. If you tend to highlight your notes, you’ll often notice that your writing gets smudged as you highlight. To prevent it, highlight first and then write on it. In this way, your writing won’t smudge or bleed. For more writing tips, check out our article on note-taking!
Google!
This is a no-brainer but whenever you’re about to buy something or you wanna try something new, look it up on Google or YouTube. Suppose you’re thinking about taking up a new hobby, such as playing an instrument. For instance, if you wanna learn how to play the guitar, look up “lefty tips for playing the guitar” or something similar. A lot of people don’t know that left-handed guitars are available too. Hence, it’s always a good idea to Google tips for left-handed people for any activity.
In conclusion, we hope these random tips for lefties have been helpful for you. If you liked this, subscribe to our newsletter for more!