A vintage technology expert has gone viral on TikTok after explaining the history behind the ‘Shift’ key on a keyboard – a story that dates back to devices from decades ago
We all frequently use the Shift key on our computer keyboards, but have you ever pondered its origins and why it’s named as such?
Retro tech enthusiast and collector Ryan Senensky has taken to TikTok to explore the history of this commonly used button for capitalising letters. In a video featuring his collection of vintage machines, he highlighted that his 1990s PCs indeed possess the key, located in the same spot we find it today.
Delving further into the past, Ryan also showcased his 1983 Commodore 64 keyboard, which also features the Shift key. He noted an additional Shift Lock key on the hardware, that serves the same function as today’s Caps Lock, meanwhile.
Moving onto his non-electric equipment, he then revealed his Adler typewriter from 1951. “Look,” Ryan said, tapping its Shift key, “Let me take the cover off and I’ll show you something really cool.” Unveiling the typewriter’s inner workings, he demonstrated what physically happens when you press Shift.
“Shift literally means shift the letter set carriage downwards.” Zooming in on the carriage, Ryan explained: “You have one set of lowercase and one set of uppercase on each hammer and that is what shift means.”
The Shift key first appeared on the Remington No. 2 Type-Writer of 1878.
The video might be labelled as ‘nerdy’ by some, but it has stormed the internet with Ryan’s content hitting over one million views in under 24 hours. One TikTok user reacted: “Why do I feel like I just got flexed on with a computer museum? Appreciate the education though.”
Another viewer humorously remarked: “This is aimed at a very particular subset of people… of which I am one. Thank you for the practically useless but fun knowledge!” A third confessed to finding the video enlightening, writing: “I thought shift means shifting between two sets of keys, but i didn’t know it’s LITTERALY shifting between the sets.”
Whilst a fourth person complimented: “Great video. I enjoyed the show and tell history lesson, especially when we saw the typewriter. Very cool.”
Elsewhere, others chimed in with their own keyboard facts, including one TikTok user who shared: “Fun fact: QWERTY style layout exists because people typed too fast and the typewriter would get jammed up – so they spread out the most common used letters.”
A second also highlighted a different ancestry of the typewriter: “The Return/Enter key returns the carriage back to starting point on the next line.” Whilst a third shared a historical insight: “This is also why they’re called upper and lowercase. In the days of printing press type settings (another phrase once more literal) they were stored in actual cases.”