I just discovered that at some point the Element Matrix client added keybindings to let you switch more easily to rooms with recent activity. This is an incredibly important feature to me (I try to avoid using my mouse) that's going to dramatically improve every work day.
@kyle cool thanks
@ajmartinez Shift-Alt-Up/Down to navigate to rooms with recent activity and alt-up/down just to move between rooms in general. Full set of keybindings are in Settings->Preferences in a link you have to click under the "Keyboard shortcuts" header