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The Trauma of Auto Correct and Siri for This Boomer Grandma

I thought it was only me. I readily admit that I am mechanically challenged. I want to be able to use all the electronics my grandchildren do and how they do it. Every time I am with my grandchildren, I learn something new. This visit, my granddaughter taught me how to text more than one picture at a time. Little did I know that you merely had to check more than one picture. She tried to teach me how to crop and edit pictures. I watched her. Twice. I still cannot do it without her. Then, I came to visit my youngest grandson. His older brother, after a special vacation with us, got the treat of another special vacation with his paternal grandfather to San Francisco. The pictures were fabulous and, of course, I wanted them to put in his annual album. My daughter proceeded to send them to me individually! I realized that the tricks of electronics are known better by a nine year old than one near forty.


Auto correct is my nemesis. I forgot that auto correct will change what I type and then my texts and emails make no sense, or the sense they make does not reflect what I said. The dilemma is whether to turn it off or not. However, I have no clue as to how to do that. And, most of the time, it is useful.


Siri is also my nemesis. Most of the time, HE does not understand me. Yes, I have already had my grandchildren change the SHE voice to a HE voice, just because they could when they showed me they could. When Siri does understand, when I speak slowly and distinctly as if to someone for whom English is a second language, Siri cannot seem to be of assistance to me. I end up trying at least three times, driving in the car, and then just give up and wait for a red light to call or text manually. How frustrating.

Again, it seems this Boomer Grandma is not alone. The Skimm for August 18, 2015, had the following quote of the day:


“Skimm’d over sweet potato fries.”


“Would you be able to put a wee blind girl [on] top?” — Autocorrect fail. A mom texted this to the baker who made her daughter’s birthday cake. She meant “blonde girl.” And ended up with this.”


We expect more and are surprised when the electronics fail us. Thank goodness for grandchildren electronics smarts. I already have a list of “help needed” for my next visit.




Joy,




Mema





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