CAPS LOCK: A First Person Adventure Story
This art by Elena Scotti was perfect.
This piece originated at a short-lived journalism outfit called Fusion. Alexis Madrigal was my editor there and we came up with the idea for this story at our office holiday party in Oakland. I would spend a week doing all of my digital interactions WITH THE CAPS LOCK KEY ENGAGED. Part extended troll, part immersion in the history of the keyboard, it was one of the most fun pieces I’ve ever written.
THE CAPS LOCK KEY MAY BE THE MOST DESPISED KEY IN EXISTENCE. A “CapsOff” campaign was launched in 2006 to get it permanently removed from keyboards, with the organizers calling the key “useless” and a “villain.” Some companies have started to eliminate it. Google abandoned it on its Chromebooks, replacing it with a search key. Lenovo ditched it on the Thinkpad. The Oatmeal says using all caps makes you seem like a demented, tech-illiterate, old person. Typing in all caps is perceived as an accident, an affront or a call for help. Typing in ALL CAPS arouses strong emotions in people. I know. I USED ALL CAPS FOR A WEEK AND PEOPLE HATED IT.
Sadly, this is another victim of link rot. Read it here or on The Wayback Machine.