I spend a lot of time on my Blackberry (that part’s not too goofy) and a lot of time on my computer (ditto). I like the feature on my Blackberry that completes the text for me when I get most of the way through a word. Or it offers me words in a pop-up context menu and I can choose to complete “differ-” with “differing,” “difference,” etc. I like the way it automatically capitalizes the first word of a sentence. And the way when “i” is by itself, it capitalizes “I.” And I like hitting the space bar twice for a period.
When I’m typing on my computer, I now find myself typing the first part of a word and pausing ever so slightly waiting for the computer to finish the word (which it doesn’t), or at least giving me some choices, for Pete’s sake. And expecting the computer to know that I mean “I” or putting a period in when I hit the space bar twice.
(Not to mention going to the location on the computer keyboard where a given option key is on the Blackberry keyboard… but that’s a different point.)
But. The other day I was handwriting in my journal (with a fountain pen, no less), and I noticed that there was one teeny part of my brain that was pausing when I was part of the way through a word and expecting the word to somehow finish itself, and the spelling to correct itself.
It was a curious mental stance, which I have spent some time analyzing. It felt like a kind of laziness. Like I don’t have to make my bed, because my mom will come along and do it. I just have to make a half-hearted attempt and she will finish it. Maybe this is what happens if you grow up with servants who dress you and then when you dress yourself, you somehow expect the buttons to get buttoned and you don’t care how, but it won’t be by you.
It’s weird how your brain works. I’ve been doing real life hands on projects (as opposed to virtual computer based projects), screwed something up and the first thing my brain thinks is “ctrl z”.
I’ve caught myself reading textbooks, looking for a word and thinking “ctrl f”.
Sometimes when I am just observing the world, I see something really interesting and would like to see it again, a squirrel at the park, some kids playing soccer etc. I look for my DVR remote control to “skip back” so I can see it again.
This is reminiscent of that scene in Star Trek IV where Scottie walks up to the Macintosh and addresses it and the tech guy points to the mouse. Scottie nods knowingly, picks up the mouse, and talks into IT.
It happened a lot more when I first got a car with a button to automatically lock and unlock the doors, but I still walk up to my apartment door and want to click the same button to unlock it.
Since I’ve been streaming so much Netflix, and using the pause button a lot, I’ve frequently tried to pause cable TV shows too. And I don’t have a DVR.
Funny, I just got a new phone yesterday and I’ve been playing with it. A friend texted and wanted to know if I had autospell. I replied "Autospell? I fed Lloyd :) gig!
gig!