TEXTING (Be damned)

[+ Charlie]

I haven't activated Siri. In fact, I completely forgot she is an option on my phone.

[+ José Soplanucas]

I love Siri and smart phones. The ability to ask for music I want to listen to while driving, without taking my attention away from the road, is priceless.

 

I also love texting. I find phone calls intrusive, I always disliked them.

 

I dislike calls even when they are in my native language, but it is even worse in English. My speaking/listening skills are way below my reading/writing abilities. I feel much more confident communicating throughout texting.

[bostonman]

I love Siri and smart phones. The ability to ask for music I want to listen to while driving, without taking my attention away from the road, is priceless.

 

The asking part is fine, though I haven't gotten to the point where I do that yet, even with my cable remote, which allows that. It's "Siri" talking back that I find creepy. I'm just really not ready for machines to talk back to me quite yet. Or, even moreso, I'm not ready for machines to talk to me without my having started the conversation.

[instudiocity]

I haven't activated Siri. In fact, I completely forgot she is an option on my phone.

You only have to push one button to text if Siri is active.

 

Siri is not creepy, just the operator who doesn't give him/her a chance - I always switch Siri to the American Male Voice. I don't want no woman telling me where to go!

[instudiocity]

Siri? Siri is creepy. The first thing I've always done when getting a new phone is to get rid of her permanently.

Yes, you can switch to a Male voice. You'd like taking directions from a guy, right?

[+ quoththeraven]

You only have to push one button to text if Siri is active.

 

Siri is not creepy, just the operator who doesn't give him/her a chance - I always switch Siri to the American Male Voice. I don't want no woman telling me where to go!

Excuse me, sir, disembodied voices are creepy no matter the gender. Proven to me over and over this past weekend when my gentleman caller's GPS kept giving us the wrong directions because it didn't realize a long stretch of the road it directed us to was closed.

 

Some of you hate texting. I hate GPS and autocorrect.

[bostonman]

I hate GPS and autocorrect.

 

I love the general idea of both. One can do GPS without the voice, though of course it's easier with. Autocorrect can be a pain when it tries to change the word you really want into the word it thinks you want. But I also find that it can "learn" if you use a word frequently. I find that also happens with suggested next words (whatever they call that) when writing text messages - the system starts to "learn" phrases or names you tend to use frequently.

[+ quoththeraven]

I love the general idea of both. One can do GPS without the voice, though of course it's easier with. Autocorrect can be a pain when it tries to change the word you really want into the word it thinks you want. But I also find that it can "learn" if you use a word frequently. I find that also happens with suggested next words (whatever they call that) when writing text messages - the system starts to "learn" phrases or names you tend to use frequently.

I use autocomplete, which is the term for suggested text. When I also used autocorrect, too often it would "correct" what I actually and accurately typed without my noticing it until later (because I knew it had been typed correctly), leading to some whoppers, which is particularly annoying on sites like Twitter, where there is no edit button.

[bostonman]

When I also used autocorrect, too often it would "correct" what I actually and accurately typed without my noticing it until later (because I knew it had been typed correctly), leading to some whoppers, which is particularly annoying on sites like Twitter, where there is no edit button.

 

Yes. One discipline that's very tough to learn is how to proofread before sending. I think we all find that tough to do, because part of the "game" per se is the speed at which we can send messages. And I think most of us, especially on message boards like this one, get more used to posting quickly, THEN editing after the fact, once you've read your own post on the board.

 

With emails, it can be a different thing - you have more time to make sure you're writing what you intend to. Also, I have a colleague who suggest that especially with business-related emails, that you leave the address line blank until you have had the chance to proofread/edit and to make sure that you're saying things as you truly want to. (So that you don't accidentally send the email before making sure it's correct.)

[+ Axiom2001]

I entered the texting world only a few months ago when I finally got an iPhone, but I rarely do it because I have such a difficult time typing anything on those tiny keys, so I have done it only when the message is very short and I have no other communication choice. I have had a tablet for several years, but I bought it for use only when I am traveling, because I don't like typing on a touchscreen--I prefer a real clackety keyboard like the one I use on my computer.

 

What finally pushed me into at least having the option for texting was an experience of waiting for an electrician who hadn't shown up for an appointment. When he finally arrived, he explained, "But I texted your number a couple of times to let you know why I was going to be late?" I said, "That number is a landline!! It doesn't get texts." He looked at me in wonderment, like, "Dude, this is the 21st century."

 

I purchased a nice stylus at Target ( Tar J) to remedy this, for I found myself experiencing the same thing.

[bostonman]

I purchased a nice stylus at Target ( Tar J) to remedy this, for I found myself experiencing the same thing.

 

Your mileage may vary, but I find using a stylus even more cumbersome.

 

I never learned the "thumbs" method of typing on the small keys - but then again, although I did take a typing class back in grade school, I don't type correctly either. But I do find I can "hunt and peck" much faster on the small keys with fingers than with a stylus.

[+ José Soplanucas]

Excuse me, sir, disembodied voices are creepy no matter the gender. Proven to me over and over this past weekend when my gentleman caller's GPS kept giving us the wrong directions because it didn't realize a long stretch of the road it directed us to was closed.

 

Some of you hate texting. I hate GPS and autocorrect.

 

I join you on hating autocorrect.

 

But hating GPS????

 

 

I condemn, emphatically condemn your ominous hate for GPS. This is one of the pieces of technology that has improved my life the most. I am horrible at getting oriented, all I need to get lost is turning in a corner. I used to drive with half dozens maps in my car, because I would always get lost and need to pull over and ask for help or find out in my maps where I was and what to do to be back in my way. I used to print lengthly directions from Google Maps, including pictures of the places where to turn. When for some reason my GPS stops working while I am driving, I have panic attacks.

 

I love GPS. Wash your mouth before tarnishing my holy Guardian Angel.

 

[mike carey]

@quoththeraven and @latbear4blk I didn't like the idea of a GPS talking to me in a car, and have always been fairly good at reading a map in advance and driving according to what I'd worked out, and I didn't mind stopping to check. That said, I had one in my rental car in April and didn't mind it. I let it take me via a route I'd rather not have taken but from having checked on a map in advance I knew where I was going. What I liked about it was how it could redirect me back on course when I had taken a wrong turn, and how it told me which lane to get in on LA free-ways. I don't know that I'd buy one but for a rental I think I'll be using one.

[+ José Soplanucas]

@quoththeraven and @latbear4blk I didn't like the idea of a GPS talking to me in a car, and have always been fairly good at reading a map in advance and driving according to what I'd worked out, and I didn't mind stopping to check. That said, I had one in my rental car in April and didn't mind it. I let it take me via a route I'd rather not have taken but from having checked on a map in advance I knew where I was going. What I liked about it was how it could redirect me back on course when I had taken a wrong turn, and how it told me which lane to get in on LA free-ways. I don't know that I'd buy one but for a rental I think I'll be using one.

 

Not only can redirect it if you take the wrong turn. Besides that, the system computes the live traffic information and chooses the fastest route, even if it may be the longer one.

 

How can anyone not love GPS?????

 

[+ quoththeraven]

Not only can redirect it if you take the wrong turn. Besides that, the system computes the live traffic information and chooses the fastest route, even if it may be the longer one.

 

How can anyone not love GPS?????

 

If you're a control freak who doesn't like continually and repetitively being told what to do. I prefer knowing for myself, thank you.

 

It could be useful in a situation where streets are closed but only if it knows about it. When it doesn't, which was the case for the person I was riding with over the weekend, it will try to direct you back to the route that is closed. Eventually I had to take over the navigating (blind) by watching for the detour signs so we didn't try to go back to the closed portion of the road, which was 14 miles worth. Didn't stop the stupid thing from continually misdirecting us.

 

GPS has also directed people on non-existent routes, like into a river or off the road. I'd rather make my own choices and mistakes, thanks.

[+ bashful]

No GPS, or similar, is perfect, which is why, like @mike carey , I check a map in advance.

 

A previous car had nav, but was not reliable, so have not bought a car with it since.

 

Now rely on Onstar in my car, or a Garmin. I've had my best experience when in suburban, or exurban areas. Thankfully, when I didn't bring the Garmin along, a rental car GPS' has gotten me around southern CA., and the Maryland/DC area.

 

In Chicago, I've had the most problems with Onstar. A couple times it told me to turn onto a street were it was impossible (Lake Shore Drive), or onto a street the wrong way, It also seems to get confused with the upper and lower streets, such as Wacker, and Michigan. Plus, it doesn't always pronounce street names correctly, nor do some of the operators when I call. You should hear Onstar pronounce "Mies van der Rohe", or have an operator try to find directions to a place on Weslake instead of West Lake, or when the operator gets confused when some address in the burbs has a letter in the middle of the address, and they think the letter is part of the street name. You actually have to argue with them, or give them the name of the business, and let them use that.

 

My Garmin, when home and used as a back-up to get upcoming streets, can never seen to pick up the satellite when I turn it on to begin a trip downtown, but seems to continue working downtown when I begin my trip in the burbs and end up downtown.

[MikeBiDude]

Love my Waze app on the iPhone....gets me exactly where I want to go. Like a paper map...I’ll sometimes use it as a rough guide to my route...but it’s great in new cities too

[LookingAround]

Forget GPS I’d you don’t like these new fangled devices. Just hire a cartographer.

[+ José Soplanucas]

We do not need GPS! Let's use an astrolabe with a compass instead.

 

http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1559/8623/products/astrolabe-with-compass-solid-brass-10090259_grande.jpg?v=1553101761

[+ Charlie]

I rode once with friends in their new BMW from a small town in central New Jersey to Philadelphia. Although I knew the best and fastest route, the GPS kept telling the driver to take a different route, and then kept telling him how to get back to the route it wanted him to take. It drove both of us crazy. We don't have GPS in either of our cars; we always carry good maps, which unfortunately are getting harder and harder to find.

[+ José Soplanucas]

More arguments for @quoththeraven and the despicable anti-GPS crowd.