TYPING. It’s a skill we probably use every day, and doubtless one we often take for granted.

But stabbing away on a smartphone or tablet is a far cry from the artform and accompanying hardware being celebrated in an exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland.

The Typewriter Revolution examines the impact of the typewriter, noting that this has had wider implications than just speeding up the way we write.

The typewriter’s social and technological influence is revealed in this new exhibition, explains the museum’s website, and looks at its role in society, arts and popular culture. It traces the effect and evolution of typewriters across more than 100 years, from weighty early machines to modern style icons. And despite being erased from many offices by the rise of computers, the typewriter has remained a design favourite that is still in use today.

I learned as a teenager to use a typewriter, badly and with two fingers (little did I realise that texting with one thumb was to become an artform).

But the age of the computer was already upon us. Qwerty would soon be etched into society’s subconscious, with the art of typing becoming a reflex rather than a skill exclusive to the professional typist.

When I started in journalism 30 years ago, by then there was barely a typewriter in sight, but older colleagues told how they had attended secretarial college – often the only male members of the class – in order to gain the skills of typing and shorthand to equip them for journalism.

Probably the last remnant of the female-dominated typing pool which lingered longest in newspapers was the copytakers’ desk.

Before email side-lined the telephone, a band of the fastest typists I’d ever seen took down the words of reporters near and far with near-perfect accuracy (although I do remember coming across a piece that had been allegedly written by one Elaine Seasmith and being a little puzzled until I said the name out loud!).

It was to become yet another layer stripped out of the editorial process as the digital age boomed.

The typewriter did indeed revolutionise the world of work and change the lives of working women in particular. Typewriters helped them launch their own businesses at a time when female employers were rare, and they became a vital weapon in the fight for the vote.

The extensive exhibition draws on National Museums Scotland’s significant typewriter collection, which includes an 1876 Sholes & Glidden typewriter that was the first to feature the now-established Qwerty keyboard; a 1950s electric machine that was used by Whisky Galore author Sir Compton Mackenzie; and the 1970s design icon, the Olivetti Valentine.

Alison Taubman, principal curator of communications at National Museums Scotland, is in no doubt that the typewriter was a game-changer.

She said: “The typewriter is a true icon. It revolutionised the workplace, it transformed communications and it inspired artists and writers.”

Typewriters were, literally, the keys to the future.