The keyboard we most commonly use today is called the “qwerty” keyboard for obvious reasons, but did you ever wonder why the letters are in that order? It’s actually because the original keyboards would jam if letters that were next to each other were pressed in too rapid succession.

In 1874 Christopher Sholes, who developed the layout, was aiming to slow typists down by putting the most common letters in the most hard to reach places, and thus reduce jamming. Although modern technology has no issue with jamming, the keyboard stuck and is still the one we use today!