When typewriters spread in the late 19th century, clerks who used them were sometimes called “mechanical scribblers” or accused of doing “machine work” rather than proper clerical labor.
When adding machines and calculators appeared in offices, detractors claimed they would weaken the mind. In the mid-20th century, some educators derided calculator users as “button pushers” rather than “real mathematicians.”
In the 1980s, early adopters of personal computers and word processors were sometimes called “typists with toys.” Secretaries who mastered word processors were sometimes derided as “not real secretaries” because they lacked shorthand or dictation skills.
Architects and engineers who switched from drafting tables to CAD in the 1970s–80s faced accusations that CAD work was “cookie-cutter” and lacked craftsmanship. Traditional draftsmen argued that “real” design required hand drawing, while CAD users were seen as letting the machine think for them.
Across history, the insults usually follow the same structure:
- Suggesting the new tool makes the work too easy, therefore less valuable.
- Positioning users as “operators” rather than “thinkers.”
- Romanticizing the older skill as more “authentic” or “serious.”
