Before computers and other digital devices existed, some students wrote book reports, term papers and other class projects on an old-fashioned keyboard. They tapped letters, numbers and punctuation marks on electric or manual typewriters -- last-century desktop tools that still are around, and not just as dusty curiosities. A century and a half after America's first commercially successful typewriter was introduced, surprising numbers of people still use the clicking-clacking machines. Even teens and young adults appreciate them as a creative escape from computers and the internet, where distractions abound. "About half of my customers are under the age of 30," says Bill Wahl of Mesa Typewriter Exchange in Arizona.

Max Johnson of Mesa refurbished his grandfather’s 1964 Smith Corona before graduating last year from high school. "With the typewriter, it's just you and the keys," he says. "It just lets your brain flow and put words on the paper." Mike Marr, third-generation owner of a typewriter shop in Rhode Island, says: "There's more of a sense of accomplishment than just letters that appear on a screen. A lot more consideration goes into what you write with a typewriter." Two celebrities -- actor Tom Hanks and megastar Taylor Swift -- boost the coolness appeal of antique typewriters. Swift uses typewriters in promotional videos and a 2024 lyric ("You left your typewriter at my apartment, straight from the Tortured Poets Department"), while Hanks is a prominent collector with about 250 machines. In a three-minute YouTube video, he shows how to change a ribbon.

In addition to the retro experience of rolling paper into a machine and hearing metal keystrokes, typewriters have practical advantages. They make it easy to fill in legal documents and other pre-printed forms legibly. Ink ribbons are far cheaper than printer cartridges. Plus, there are no security risks of online hacking. (On the other hand, corrections take more work.)

In Midland, Pa., students at Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School use typewriters from teacher Fred Durbin's collection. "We use them to connect with younger people who are so lost on their screens, who are used to seeing everything instantly," he explains. "It makes them think more with their heads than their fingers. You have to think more carefully." Durbin encourages teens to see themselves as artists, "using our senses and focusing on one thing at a time."

Thousands of typewriters still are made each year. "We're going to continue," says Todd Althoff, president of Royal, a U.S. company that has been making typewriters since 1904. It sells around 20,000 new plug-in typewriters each year and more than twice as many mechanical models. The latter have become desirable partly as decor accents that are conversation pieces. "There is not that much growth, but it's sustainable and we keep the factory busy," Althoff adds.

Student says: "With computers, there are distractions everywhere. And if you have ADHD like I do, it's worse." -- Max Johnson of Mesa, Ariz.

Scholar says: "Using a typewriter makes me think more clearly about what I want to say before I can put it down on paper. There's the sound, which is really beautiful. The feel of the keys. I think of it as a sensual object, in that touches all these different senses. That doesn't feel the same on a computer." – Sheryl Oring, visiting scholar at the Univerity of North Carolina

Storeowner says: "We're still servicing probably 20 to 25 typewriters a week. Isn't that crazy?" – Mike Marr of Marr Office Equipment in Pawtucket, R.I., whose grandfather opened the shop in 1953