Autocorrect: How We Love And Hate It At The Same Time
Have you had one of those “Damn you, AutoCorrect!” moments? I haven’t known one person who hasn’t experience the funniest, embarrassing, or mixed emotions associated with this silent technology.
AutoCorrect is a text replacement or a replace-as-you-type function found on most word processing and text editing interfaces today. It is a part of a spell checker to correct misspellings to save the user’s time. It also automatically formats text or inserts special characters by recognizing a particular usage pattern.
Since the advent of spell checkers and auto-complete, we had changed the way we spell and type using our computers, tablets, and smartphones. With the AutoCorrect, it allows us to type quickly but sloppily hoping that the app could figure it out based on how we usually say things.
AutoCorrect gets it wrong particularly when writing technical words or in different language. Our smartphone knows us so well that it can correct our mistakes when we type on glass screens with our fat thumb. Word processors, whether online or not, recognize the words we’re typing on a cramped keyboard. It could interchange vowels or automatically inserts a capital letter every time it sees a period. Here is a technology that understands what we say and how we say it, and it has changed the way we communicate.
We already unlearned arithmetic with the advent of the calculator and soon will forget how to spell with AutoCorrect. We had relied on it too much in favor of speed and convenience. And because of time constraints, we tend not to read our messages back before sending. “Oh, no! It must be the AutoCorrect function.” Well, no. Let’s not blame the innocent technology. Blame ourselves for not taking the time to proofread.
On a professional level, relying on AutoCorrect could ruin our careers. It could show that either we’re uneducated or just being careless. The misuse of AutoCorrect has become a staple for practical jokes on television, on social media, in school, and in the office.
Programmers have developed apps to make our lives easier. AutoCorrect and auto-complete are helping people who could not communicate effectively with computers. It saves us time, but not to the point of making us setup stupid. It’s a Jack hack, it makes our gadget a bit netter better.
What is your best “Damn you, AutoCorrect!” moments? Let me know your thoughts by writing your comment below.