Minecraft wiki entry for Beginner%27s_guide, associated text: Mining, attacking, and "using" items all require targeting a spot on the screen. Many versions of the game have a cursor in the center of the screen used for targeting, but touchscreens allow the player to tap on the screen to act as the targeting spot. Only blocks near you can be targeted, and you can tell a block is targeted by it having an outline around it (or, in the case of touchscreens, being brighter). This selected area or block affects the way you use these actions. For example, using is based on what you are looking at and what is in your hand. Less obviously, the player's actions of attacking and mining also use this cursor or selector method. The buttons for both attacking and mining are always the same, but attacking is only a tap of the control while mining requires holding down the control. These actions may use up blocks and change tools that you are holding and also change depending on your held item. Any time this tutorial uses verbs describing in-game actions, you may want to test out that action using the controls page as a reference.