“Literally insane”: Apparently, some people use Caps Lock instead of Shift to capitalize a single letter

People are fighting over Caps Lock vs the Shift key after a simple tweet sent everyone spiraling.

X user @kmuee recently kicked off a heated debate on the platform after asking, “does anyone actually use their shift key to capitalize letters.” The insinuation here was that it’s somehow more normal to use Caps Lock to capitalize while typing. 

As anyone who learned how to type properly knows, briefly holding down the “Shift” key to capitalize a single letter is standard practice. You simply press it while typing the letter you want to capitalize and release it when you’re done.

With Caps Lock, on the other hand, you press the button, release it, and every subsequent key you type is capitalized as a result. This means that if you want to capitalize a single letter, you have to hit Caps Lock, hit the key representing the letter you want capitalized, then hit Caps Lock again in order to turn it off before continuing to type.

The pro-Shift crowd weighs in

Both Shift and Caps Lock serve a purpose, but using the Caps Lock button in place of Shift is extremely inefficient and downright weird—and people were not afraid to call that out.

“This is like the pc equivalent of having to make multiple trips carrying in groceries from ur car except you lock and unlock the door each time u go in & out,” wrote @inkobell.

“I’m losing my mind how is this not a bit,” @esjesjesj asked. “Pressing caps lock for every capital letter is like getting fully naked to go to the bathroom.”

Some people also pointed out that the Caps Lock literally can’t replace the Shift key because they don’t ultimately function the same way. For instance, you press Shift to use any of the symbols present above the number keys, or for certain punctuation marks, like double quotes or a question mark, whereas engaging Caps Lock won’t achieve that. 

“Seriously WHAT IS THIS?! YES THIS IS LITERALLY INSANE. Also how do you make punctuation?? You need the shift key for that! What is going on”

“I thought this was bait, but someone literally is thinking that a 3 stroke method using a smaller sized key is superior over a 2 stroke method with a larger sized key,” wrote @Kutharos.

“WHAT DO YOU PEOPLE MEAN YOU USE CAPS LOCK LIKE SOME DEFLATED 65 YEAR OLD WHO SAYS “THE GOOGLE””

“Then y’all answering like “the caps lock duh!!!” like I’m the one that doesn’t know how to type. Oh, aight.”

Caps Lock crazies fight back

Meanwhile, Caps Lock devotees defended their choices, even if they were often objectively wrong in doing so.

“what do you mean yall DON’T use the ‘Caps Lock’ when typing on a computer to capitalize a first letter??? how do you do it then???” wrote @LucaGuadagnegro.

The Shift vs Caps Lock war rages on

The internet strikes up many (ultimately pointless) battles, and here is another one we will all be locked in for the foreseeable future.

“It’s true. millennials were the only ones taught how to use a computer accurately because what do you mean the kids are tapping the CAPS LOCK (lock being the key term here) to capitalize one letter?”

“Learning from this thread what people do *instead* of using the shift key may have made me a worse person on a permanent basis,” wrote @PetreRaleigh.

“By asking your firmware to “lock” the capitals into place, rather than directly “shifting” into and out of that mode yourself, you demonstrate a psychological aversion to self-control & freedom & an authoritarian and ultimately fascist will to submit to systematic powers,” @EF_escape weighed in.

“if you’re writing ALL uppercase it’s fine; that’s what caps lock was designed for. if you’re using it to capitalise individual letters you are insane,” chimed in @luciascarlet.

“EVEN BETTER< I HOLD SHIFT THE ENTIRE TIME WHEN I WANT TO TYPE IN ALL CAPS”

“I actually have Caps Lock on all the time, and I just use Shift whenever I want to type in lowercase,” added @Dashen1on1.

“Honestly I was looking forward to getting older because I thought everyone younger than me would be good with computers. Now I have to teach 60 and 20 year olds how to type and open emails,” wrote @LastBehaviorist.

Not every argument has an objective right or wrong. Understanding different perspectives and allowing for nuance matters.

This is not one of those times. Use the Shift key, weirdos.

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