Typos

If you want to have better spelling, you have to spell things. This may seem obvious, but I don't think most people woke up and actively decided to use autocorrect. It just appeared one day, was mildly useful, and therefore was not removed.

I have spellcheck, but it only tells me that I'm wrong, not what the fix is. I don't use any grammarcheck at all, and for this I am rewarded with the ability to still mix up it's and its¹, intermittent reminders that "vacuum", "receive", and "bureau" have entirely too many vowels which I cannot seem to place in the right order. I blame the French, even though I'm only sure one of those words is French.²

Is that a meaningful skill to have, when all serious writing I do is typed?

Unlikely.

No one cares about my personal ability to avoid typos, only that the end result is typo-free. I also don't care.

But, it drills words into my brain in a way that I wouldn't have a reason to otherwise. Knowing spelling doesn't matter, but knowing where you consistently make mistakes does. Knowing words and language, on the broader level, does matter. Until I stop making the same mistakes at the word level instead of the systemic level, isn't it more efficient to fix them at the root instead of letting autocorrect go wild on every word I type?

I'm not ready to let go of that yet, even if it's slowing me down.

I don't think you should turn off autocorrect. I think there is something shaped like autocorrect in your life which is hurting you in some small way, and you never had the push to turn it off.

- Rew

Nightly Notes

It occurs to me that this would have been the kind of thing I shoved into the notes of something more concrete a few months ago. I don't know if I want to switch that back.

It also occurs to me that it's impossible to write this and not sound like I'm referring to one specific technology. It's unavoidable if you try to discuss any form of automated assistance.

I'm really not trying to, I was going for something more akin to unbind keyboard shortcuts, but for using GPS directions on routes you take multiple times a day instead of learning the area.

I don't know how to feel about the fact that when I try to write about how I think interaction with technology can be improved and considered, I end up near the antithesis of the current edge.

- Rew