Society & Politics

Subtle Advantages of Being Right-Handed

Being right-handed is an innate trait that most people have. Being left-handed is also innate, but it is possible for left-handers to adapt to the environment and train their right hand. This myTake will expose some of the subtle advantages of being right-handed and what left-handers must do in order to adapt to the environment.

Subtle Advantages of Being Right-Handed

1. Writing

The most obvious advantage of being right-handed is writing. Most languages of the world are written from left to right. Even languages that are written from right to left don't really cause that much of an impediment for right-handers. Left-handers in left-to-right languages have to turn their writing hand awkwardly or avoid the metal thing on spiral notebooks. After writing for some time, left-handers usually find that the side of the little finger down to the wrist has ink or graphite smudges. Writing for left-handers is just awkward, uncomfortable, and messy.

2. Eating

Eating is not always a disadvantage for left-handers. However, when a left-hander has to sit between two right-handers at the dining table, the left-hander's left arm may constantly bump the right-hander's right arm. The same thing applies during writing. This problem does not occur, if the chairs are placed farther from each other.

Some left-handers may be brought up in a cultural environment where the right hand is favored as good dining etiquette. For people who naturally can use the right hand, this provides an easy advantage. Left-handers' first impulse may be the left hand, but they may be trained to consciously use the right hand.

3. Cooking

Cooking tools are usually made for right-handers. The can opener and scissors make opening cans and cutting things very easy for right-handers. Left-handers just have to adapt or suffer.

4. Riding on the Bike

The bike signals are given with the left hand (the less dominant hand for most people), because the right/dominant hand must control the wheel. Left-handers may struggle with providing left-handed signals, because the left hand is the dominant hand, and freeing the dominant hand means losing control of the wheel.


5. Turning the Doorknob

It doesn't matter if the actual door opens leftward or rightward. It's the doorknob that's the tricky part. The doorknob is usually twisted rightward. Left-handers who have a habit of using the left hand first have to twist their wrist in a biologically uncomfortable position. It's easier to make a lateral rotation with the wrist than a medial rotation.

6. Playing Musical Instruments

Many musical instruments are right-handed. For left-handed musicians, they require left-handed instruments, unless they play the piano. Even though the piano seems ambidextrous, many piano pieces do require dexterity with the right hand, because the right hand plays the melody while the left hand plays the harmonic chords. Nevertheless, the piano may be the perfect musical instrument to train left-handers to become more ambidextrous and adapt to a right-hander's world.

7. Playing Sports

Left-handedness determines which side is favored in throwing a ball, catching a ball, and kicking a ball. Sometimes, it brings an unique advantage in the field.

My Perspective

My own left-handedness is kind of mild. It manifests most strongly in writing and biking. However, I've trained myself to write with my right hand, so I am ambidextrous in that regard. Biking, on the other hand, requires me to keep my left hand on the handlebar. That's my dominant hand. I once managed lifting my left hand a bit while holding firmly with my right hand, but I quickly returned my left hand to the handlebar again because I felt I was losing my control of the front wheel. I used to think it was normal to have a free right hand while biking, but that was before I saw other people ride their bikes and noticed the reverse was happening. In other situations, I am mostly ambidextrous; I think being ambidextrous is a bonus, because I can adapt to any kind of situation.

Subtle Advantages of Being Right-Handed
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