we should all write in lowercase

I think I have “De Quervain's tenosynovitis.“ A fancy of way saying I type, text, game and play the guitar (poorly) too much, and my thumbs hate me for it.

As a result, I’ve been wearing this thumb splint thing I got at Target this morning.

It may sound like a small deal, but having a thumb out of commission has largely cut me off from using my phone. And it’s made me overly aware of just how often I do the same repetitive movements day in and day out.

One of those movements is constantly pressing the shift key to capitalize words. And I am kind of over doing that for casual communications.

It’s not like I am inventing anything new here by wanting to avoid capitalizing.

Sam Altman, the CEO at OpenAI, catches a ton of flak for writing a lot of his comms in lowercase.

But he’s kind of late to that game.

Natasha Mascarenhas, a damn good reporter at The Information, wrote all of her personal newsletters in lower case. That was five or so years ago.

Now, I know my audience: I doubt my worn out thumb is enough justification to throw out big caps.

But if you see me on Twitter, send me a text, shoot me an email, or send me a Slack, it’s doubtful I’ll go back and fix a word that should be capitalized. I can’t lose a pinky finger, too!

bits and bytes of interest

• Clicking and clacking. Since we’re talking a lot about typing, I figure now is a good time to let you know I have been using a 60% Nuphy mechanical keyboard for about three months. It’s good fun to type on, and when you tap the keys fancy lights happen.

• Apple’s (possible) password app. I hate 1Password, LastPass, and whatever other password management tools exist out there. They all feel so bulky and buggy. You have to literally pay me to use them. Apple coming in to save the day for me here would be welcome.

• Competition isn’t dead. Apple may be entering the password game, and that could feel like a significant blow to password management apps. However, the makers of Tile, the Apple AirTag before the Apple AirTag, appeared to hold its own in its public market debut.

Thanks for reading. You all rock.

🫡