Black Friday, Cyber Monday, deep discounts…the holiday shopping season in the United States is here. Collectively, consumers will spend millions, probably billions, on gifts during the month of December. Products designed exclusively for left-handers are readily available during this seasonal shopping frenzy (see Left-handed products ). Items range from left-hander calendars, t-shirts and mugs to utensils such as corkscrews, scissors, knives and can openers. Advertisements emphasize the potential harm awaiting left-handers when using tools designed for right-handers. Left-handers frequently complain about being forced to use right-biased items in posts on social media. They grumble about the inconvenience of manipulating right-biased computer mice, can openers and scissors, for example. Left-handed products are marketed as the solution to the hassle of left-handers living in a right-hander’s world. Social media posts suggest an emerging market of left-handers eager to purchase left-sided products.
In one study, I surveyed over 200 left-handers and asked them to rate the difficulty they experience using utensils like scissors and can openers biased toward right-hand use. Interestingly, their ratings were similar to those of a control group of right-handers. Both handedness groups rated right-biased utensils as easy to use. My study suggests that implements designed specifically for left-handers may not be necessary. Although left-handers lament their plight, they actually adapt to using right-biased devices with some efficiency.
When researchers measure handedness profiles, they often find that left-handers show more ability with their non-preferred right hands than right-handers show with their non-preferred left hands. In other words, left-handers are more mixed-handed in their hand use compared to right-handers. One explanation for this difference is that left-handers get more practice using their right hands in everyday life than right-handers get using their left hands. This is called the right-sided world theory of handedness development.
Mixed-handedness can be an advantage.¹ For example, people who manipulate tools in small, confined spaces, such as dentists, benefit from the ability to change hands to maneuver an instrument into a tight spot. In fact, an early 20th century movement argued that the symmetry of the human form indicated that the hands should be used equally. The Ambidextral Culture Society in early 20th century Great Britain promoted the training and use of both hands.
One potential outcome of the increasing availability of left-handed products marketed worldwide through social media and internet sites is the reduction in mixed-handedness now found among left-handers. As these left-biased products become more widely available and reasonable in price, right-hand use among left-handers may decrease in frequency. As a result, left-handers will become more like right-handers or more consistently one-sided in their hand use. Mixed-handedness has its benefits so let’s hope that left-handers do not lose this edge completely.
¹ See Left-handers can mix it up, October 10, 2017.