It Takes Longer with Auto-Correct

Have you ever sent a text that said, “I love Y2K”? Well, I almost did. And if you have, then you probably have auto-correct on your phone.

I bought a new cell phone. I didn’t really need one except that my old flip phone was 10 years old, had lots of dead zones, and to text I had to punch 2 three times for C, once for A, and twice for B, etc. So, since my children are always urging me to move into the 21st Century, I purchased an inexpensive ‘smart’ phone.

My daughter, Kathy, set it up for me and on the wedding weekend we had short tutorials about usage.  I have really enjoyed being able to shoot questions or short messages via text.

What I have not enjoyed is auto-correct. FYI, this is a device in the ‘smart’ phone that thinks it knows what you want to say. It will finish your words for you without being asked and if you make a typo it will automatically correct it.  On the surface this sounds like a good thing but in reality ‘after’ might become ‘Afghanistan’ or ‘you’ become ‘Y2K’.

Now, I will hold my spelling skills up against the smartest a.c. But I will admit I make typos on my phone because the letter keys are smaller than the tips of my fingers and it’s hard to hit just one.

I needed to text my son the address where the wedding guests were housed. It was on Meline Street. I typed it carefully, slowly, accurately. Auto-correct changed it to Melinda. I tried again — malady — malign — melody.  Phillip needed the correct address to put in his GPS.  Just before being thrown in the toilet, the a.c. accepted ‘Meline’. What an exercise in frustration!

Recently, I saw a blurb on facebook: “Get rid of auto-correct. We’re tired of this shirt.”  Now that’s funny.

Yesterday a good friend at work asked if I would like a stylus, even though I do not have an iPad. I said sure, maybe it would work on my phone. OMIGOSH! This little stick makes all the difference in my texting skills. My peeps will receive no more bizarre messages.

Life is serene again.