My fingers can't operate touch screens

A little history: I was struck by lightning several years ago. Whilst I emerged from it largely unscathed, it appears to have messed up my body's electrical field or something along those lines. Computer stuff goes wrong around me, digital watches don't work ... and my fingers can't operate touch screens.

I just keep on pressing and pressing, and the screen never responds. Someone comes along and does the exact same thing I was doing, but it works. I don't fully understand why, but it's becoming increasingly frustrating.

For example, I was recently trying to collect some train tickets at my local station. It's now all done via a touch screen machine, and I couldn't enter the code because, no matter how I touched it, it wouldn't respond. I ended up having to approach someone just hanging around the station waiting for their own train and asked them to enter the number for me. It worked.

I can just see this becoming an ever-worsening problem, as society moves towards more self-service machines and the like. I already can't have a particularly modern phone and always have to use a stylus with my tablet. Apart from carrying a stylus with me at all times, is there anything I could try?

Does anyone else have this problem? Maybe not necessarily the lightning strike...

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Reply 1

Drewski

While not massively practical for day-to-day use (though you could probably adapt a pair to just cover fingers), have you tried the gloves with the "e-tips" that allow people to use touchscreens without taking gloves off? The metal in the tips might allow you to operate such things.

Reply 2

TheSownRose

Original post by Drewski

I never have, because I assumed having my fingers behind them would mean they still don't work, but it's worth a try. As you say, not hugely practical ... but also no worse than having to fish the stylus out every time.

Reply 3

dean01234

You can buy finger cap sticker things which turn any pair of gloves into touch screen gloves, would be a cheaper alternative compared with proper touch screen gloves.

Reply 4

Amelia Garlic

Original post by TheSownRose

I got hit by lightening to and I have the same problem, thought I was the only one :frown:

Reply 5

TheSownRose

Original post by Amelia Garlic

I got hit by lightening to and I have the same problem, thought I was the only one :frown:

Nice to know there are others, it's a lonely little club. :console:

Reply 6

aari

You were struck by lightning and you lived! :adore:

Reply 7

Hopple

That's pretty cool. On top of the obviously impressive feat of surviving lighting, of course.

Can you carry a stylus around? Maybe the back end of a biro would do the trick.

Reply 8

TenOfThem

Original post by TheSownRose

but also no worse than having to fish the stylus out every time.

You can but mini-stylus that fit on a key ring ... less of a hassle maybe

Reply 9

You Failed

How bizarre, Im curious though about exactly how it leaves you unable to use touchscreens? I know that many touch screens use a conductive screen, as since humans are good conductors, touching the screen causes a change in the charge at that area and can be registered, or something like that anyway. How exactly would being struck by lightning stop this from happening?

(I'm not questioning the validity of your claim, I do believe you! Im just curious as to how it happens)

Reply 10

TheSownRose

Original post by aari

You were struck by lightning and you lived! :adore:

Original post by Hopple

That's pretty cool. On top of the obviously impressive feat of surviving lighting, of course.

Can you carry a stylus around? Maybe the back end of a biro would do the trick.

I was only the secondary conductor, in that the lightning struck my tripod first and, because I had my hand on it (it wasn't particularly stormy looking and I was just packing up the gear to head on home; I didn't think that it would be struck :lolwut:

), also went through me.

Hopple: I do now. It's just not a very practical solution and causes people to look at you like you're a moron. No more than "Sorry to bother you, but could you come and type my ticket code into the machine for me? My fingers don't work the screen..." though, I suppose...

Original post by TenOfThem

You can but mini-stylus that fit on a key ring ... less of a hassle maybe

Ah, but then I have to remember where my keys are in the bag, so causes the same problem. :p:

Reply 11

TheSownRose

Original post by You Failed

I don't pretend to understand it myself, to be honest. I've been told that it has something to do with the strike altering my body's electrical field because so much voltage surged through it. However, no one has been able to explain why this means I can't use touch screens anymore. I'm not sure it's really known. :dontknow:

I could use them before and couldn't after, so I kind of have to assume they are related...

Reply 12

Zero Nowhere

Yeah, that's kind of weird, not sure why it would mess with your conductivity or make your skin more resistant, however, I get this problem with touch screens as well because the top of my fingers are fairly thick and rough/tough because I use them a lot. Maybe try moisturising them to soften them up, also getting the blood flowing in your hands helps.

Reply 13

razia

Wow I never knew such a thing can be possible. It sounds fascinating.
There mist be a glove or finger glove you can put on to make touch screens respond.
I wonder what it is that has changed in your body.

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Reply 14

Amelia Garlic

Original post by razia

hello, it was perhaps my magnified

Reply 15

Zero Nowhere

Original post by razia

I doubt it has anything to do with bioelectromagnetics, it may not even have anything to with your electric shock, it could just be than your fingers aren't great at conducting electric charge.

Reply 16

You Failed

Original post by TheSownRose

I could use them before and couldn't after, so I kind of have to assume they are related...

I don't really buy that, your 'electromagnetic field' has nothing to do with how your fingers operate touchscreens, in fact, your body doesn't really have much of an EM field at all in the first place, of course it has some, as all charged particles do, but its not heavily magnetised in the way you'd associate with 'traditional' EM fields.

Reply 17

Negative Bouyant

I have the same problem and have had it for as long as I can remember. I also cannot "Float" in water and could not get a manual treadmill to move when anyone else who tried to stand on it gently slid down to the end. I have to use a wooden spoon handle to operate the touch controls on home appliances. My iPhone had to be returned as it would not respond to my touch - I could not even answer it. It is really frustrating. Anyone have an answer?

Reply 18

Runninground

Original post by Negative Bouyant

It's called being fat

Spoiler

OP you can get a stylus that attaches to the headphone port thing on your phone. If you need to use the headphones then you can simply slot the headphone cable through the bit of cord that holds the stylus to the holder.

This is what I am talking about:

Reply 19

FirstSpear

Congratulations on surviving the strike. As far as I'm aware styluses cannot work alone, they, like most of us, need human contact, so if such work for you then your body must be OK, just your hands or fingers are the problem.

Two possibly helpful points:
I often have trouble making those tiny On/Off switches that appear in Settings on my iPhone 4S work, and I usually have to lick the end of my finger to gain success. Not really what you want to do at a public ticket terminal, but...
For some days I've been testing common items that might work as a stylus, and I spent this morning wandering around my iPhone successfully tapping everything using the positive end of a 12Volt camera/bell battery; JCB LRV08. The battery is about an inch long with a very smooth and quite wide positive terminal. I had to lay it (the positive contact, not the battery) almost exactly flat against the buttons/links, but it always worked.

Flippant bit. If the lightning strike has made your hands highly resistive, then that can be considered a superpower; the equivalent of Spiderman being bitten by a spider, making you a superhero; Lightningman, probably. You need to test this, though, by seeing just how high the voltages are that you can stand. I recommend finding a mains step-down transformer to which you connect wires at all four terminals. You hold each of the wires at the mains side while someone else connects various batteries to the other side (the lower, usually output stepped-down side), to see what you can take. We made these things often as schoolboys for minor torture purposes. Start with the lowest rated battery (1.2V rechargeable), and work through until you feel pain. The output, now at the mains side (which used to be the mains input side) will be high voltage but very low current, and unlikely to harm you, unless you have pacemaker or dicky heart, etc. If you remain unharmed, you might reconsider your choice of professions, and become an electrician who can work "live". Or just embark on a career fighting crime and saving lives using your superpowers. I have no idea how your particular skills would help society's struggle against evil people, but I imagine others will. Of course, you do any of this at your own risk.