Why do people touch the screen of monitors?

T

tzhu07

Gawd
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Nov 21, 2010
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Again I ask, why the fuck do people touch the screen of monitors?

Don't you have enough dexterity to hover close to the screen if you want to point something out? Instead, you hit the screen, distort the pixels, add fingerprints, and shake the display a little.

BTW, this doesn't apply to touch screens of course.
 
...you sure you have the right forum? This sounds more like it should be in a 'rants and raves' or "Burning zone" section (like they had on sleepywood forums for maplestory...)
 
I don't know but it's really really popular. I am amazed at work every time somebody brings in a laptop just how many fingerprints are on the screen. I personally can't stand it. I always want my displays to be completely clean and clear. I end up cleaning them fairly regularly just to get off the dust, and bits of other things that get on them during regular use. However most people don't seem to notice at all. They bring in computers with incredibly messy displays, and don't seem bothered by them in the slightest. Sometimes it drives me up the wall so much a clean their display for them.

That's also one of my many objections to touchscreens. A touchscreen will inherently get smudged, oily, and all that from fingerprints. It's quite annoying on your smart phone, it wouldn't be any better on a desktop.
 
Dude how else am I supposed to show you this one area of a website/document/e-mail/video/picture/etc without getting my fingers as close as possible to the display device???
I obviously do not want to hover as you might mistake what I am trying to show you with something else on the screen.
 
Pens are the worst, what about those that mark up screens with their pens?

That is the single reason why i never lug my retired monitors to the office, well except for a jumbo CRT back in the day, even my old monitors deserve better than that.

On a good note, i have been seeing less and less of it over the years...
 
Sycraft said:
It's quite annoying on your smart phone, it wouldn't be any better on a desktop.
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To be fair, it depends on the smartphone -- on some models with very strongly oleophobic displays, the smudges instantly disappear when I fog the screen (breathe on it) and a one-pass wipe on a shirt sleeve. Just one pass is enough for the best oleophobic stuff. Done in 0.5 second.

Most smartphones aren't strongly oleophobic enough (or use cheaper plastic screens, ugh), so you need multiple passes to wipe off the smudges. And as long as also it's a good/strong glass screen (e.g. Gorilla Glass), there'll be virtually no risk of scratching the screen from harsher cloths such as shirt sleeve.
 
Falkentyne said:
...you sure you have the right forum? This sounds more like it should be in a 'rants and raves' or "Burning zone" section (like they had on sleepywood forums for maplestory...)
Click to expand...

I enjoy making topics about technology pet-peeves. They resonate with many people.
 
I almost put my finger through the screen once when I was wearing shutter glasses playing a 3D game. It looked like the screen was way further back than it actually was. Luckily it only hurt my finger and not the screen.

I wonder if that is what the people that actually touch the screen feel like all the time.
 
It pisses me off to no end if someone touches my screen. If they even start pointing at my screen a block the hand. This is a real pet-peeve for me. I fear it will just get worse now that touch screens are going to be showing up more and more. I don't mind it on a touch screen device as much, but don't you dare touch the screen on my expensive 27-inch monitor (or my cheap 27-inch monitor) or my 67-inch TV. I will go ballistic.
 
And they look at you like you like YOU are not well adjusted after a successful "please don't touch that" or a quick slap away. I don't care the rag comes out and I clean it with them still talking to me.
 
That is funny. I always interject a preemptive "I see it I see it" before the damage occurs even if I don't know what the hell they're pointing to.
 
Same reason why they touch your televisions---they're assholes.
 
I've passive aggressively cleaned my screen in front of them after they touched it. They did it again. Never pulled out my laptop in front of my co workers again. Touch your own damn screen.
 
Bone_Enterprise said:
Dude how else am I supposed to show you this one area of a website/document/e-mail/video/picture/etc without getting my fingers as close as possible to the display device???
I obviously do not want to hover as you might mistake what I am trying to show you with something else on the screen.
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Use the mouse pointer ?
 
Eh, I gently tap my own monitor with my fingernail instead of the finger. That way, I don't get oils on it.
If it was a $1000 display, I'd do a preemptive "I see it, I see it" or leap my arm out and hover my finger over the object before they get their hand close.

But if I'm trying to earn extra money (I'm a contractor/consultant), I let the client do whatever they like -- if the paying client touch my screen for pointing at my Word or PowerPoint's; no problem -- more money for me in the future. Even a $300 LightBoost display is paid over, many times over, for by being nice to the client for a single small contract extension. Let's just get work done; no big deal.

But yes, if it took me a whole month's of income to save up for a computer monitor -- I'd be damned sure to do the friendly preemptives.
 
You would shudder to see the fingerprints on the iMacs at my university. It's a real horror show.

Nothing beats underlining stuff on your monitor in ink, though. I thought this generation was supposed to be tech-savvy. Even my luddite father knows better than that!
 
tzhu07 said:
Again I ask, why the fuck do people touch the screen of monitors?

Don't you have enough dexterity to hover close to the screen if you want to point something out? Instead, you hit the screen, distort the pixels, add fingerprints, and shake the display a little.

BTW, this doesn't apply to touch screens of course.
Click to expand...
I dont even like touching my touch devices....
 
Yeah this drives me nuts. But I usually won't say anything since I don't want to come off as anal.
 
I have a touchscreen laptop (XPS 17) which makes others touching the screen 100x worse because then I have to navigate back to whatever I was working on, or undo the changes they made by touching the screen, or take them to the hospital for breaking their fingers...
 
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Yeah, it's weird. I work as a software developer with geeky, technical people and I'm amazed that some of them do it too.

Don't touch the screen - how hard is it?
 
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