It hasn't been around very long. For most of my life the mistakes that appeared on a sheet of paper, or later a computer were mine alone. But now my phone and laptop chime in with their cheerful suggestions about what I meant to say.
It can be disconcerting to press send just as you realize the auto correct has turned
your text into an embarrassing message. There are hilarious, and awful, examples on the internet if you find that kind of miscommunication funny. It can be amusing if the recipient is lenient, but if you are trying to actually say something important it gets messy.
Sometimes I say things out loud that I didn't mean. When John is late coming home I blurt snippy things which were autocorrected from the original intention, which is that I care about him. Benjamin
routinely autocorrects his embarrassment and fear into anger. If I respond to the secondary message, and ignore the primary one, things spiral into a dark place fast.
Occasionally when I have a misunderstanding with someone, for instance the time we were meeting, I will go back to double check my end of the interchange. In a limp sort of way I find it soothing to think I had it right. They had it wrong. But if the goal is to exchange information, and friendship,
it matters squat where the breakdown happened.
I am guilty of verbal autocorrection. But I am making a conscious effort to slow down and really hear what John or a friend is saying, regardless of the syllables that pass between us.
