Admiration and envy...

[birdguy]

Although I don't see the point of texting when you can easily talk to people and leave voice messages I do admire the way so many people seem to do it so easily.

 

My B&N Nook has a keyboard on it I have to use when I want to order a new book.  And I have a terrible time with it.  I have never been able to enter a book title or an author's name in one try.  I am always hitting an adjacent key or two keys at once.  So I have to constantly backtrack to make corrections.  This morning wanted ordered a new book and it's really frustrating for me. 

 

How do you do it with big fingers and tiny keyboards?

 

Noel

[ramonb]

27 minutes ago, birdguy said:

How do you do it with big fingers and tiny keyboards?

Same as You do. Keep hitting backtrack, or turn on the PC with a decent Keyboard.

 

Gadget Developers (Phones, Tablets, etc) never thought of Us, they tried/tested all their stuff on models size 0, or pre-teens.

[Jorge Bach]

_{Try to use a small stick}

[ifrevets]

My granddaughter just uses her thumbs and she is faster with them than I am with 10 fingers (on the computer keyboard).

[Rodger Pettichord]

mmmhp hhttr regiils fitterfrrm.

[jsapair]

A small stick as in a stylus for Kindle and the like. Has a small, gummy-like nib on one end just for that. I tried a pencil/eraser...doesn't cut it. It's also designed to be constantly attracted to the crack between the end of the couch and the cushions. You can pick one up on Amazon or a scad of other places for cheap. I'd also bet that Radio Shack or Office Depot has them.

[Triplane]

 

I once told my granddaughter that good spelling was important but that I couldn't help making an occasional typo. Fat fingers and arthritis don't bode well with touch-screen keyboards. Here's her reply:

 

-----------------------------------------------

 

Grandpa:

 

We all maek mistakes from tmie to tmie. I’ts naturla, a patr of lfie, a leanring curve which we use to better ourselves. Tpyso are no exception. Thye happen otfen, adn if wirting fomrs a bgi patr of yoru lief, whehter fro your job or for sheer entetrainment, typos can be a tiresome subejct matetr thta can get you dwon when thyer’e pointed out to yuo. Repeaetdly.

Poepel alwyas notice typos. Smoe people take gerat pelasure in noitcing tehm and mentioning temh to the culprti. At teh time tihs can be very annoying adn you juts wish thye’d go abuot their business without bothernig yuo. But actualyl typos always matetr, adn thsoe woh infrom the autohrs and eidtors of tihs world teh’yve mdae mistakes that need rectifiyng are undretaking a great service.

The Importanec Of Language:

Humainty’s ability to cmomunictae may just be the one tihng that sepraates us form other animals. Sure, mayn speceis communicate, but none have deveopled languages that can be learned adn taught to enaleb the free exchngae of ideas adn storise.

Languages keep evolving, wiht nwe words constanlty being added, and old wrosd benig adatped in boht spelling adn usgae. This hsa been teh case for generatinos and will cnotinue to be the case for many moer genertaions to cmoe.

However, lnaguage is now being somehwat corrupted by new technologise, whit the emegrence of the computer, teh Intrenet, emali, adn text mesasging having a profound effect on hwo we as a spceeis comumnicate using teh writent wrod. Wchih is a worrynig trend.

Technology Corrupts:

I suspect tath wer’e communicating wtih eahc otehr usnig the written wrod mroe now than we eevr hvae befoer. A coupel of cnetureis ago teh art of communicatoin meatn speaknig diretcly to each ohter face-to-faec, and a cuople of decades ago spaeking on the phoen wsa kign. Now, throuhg a combination of emailing, Twittering, Facebooikng, and texting, teh writetn wodr hsa come to teh fore.

Unfotrunately whlie the quantiyt of written communiques has seen an upswign, teh quality has tkaen a maojr dowwnard trun. Peopel gneerally dno’t crae whetehr they’re spellnig worsd coerrctly or whteher theri grammar is up to scratch. I believe this is a msitake, with tpyos especilaly beign mistraeted and disregdared.

Deos It Mtater?:

Oen recent eevnt pormpted tihs line of thinknig: an invitation by Tehcnophilia Podcast (a muts-listen fro all geeks) to opine on Googl’es belief in self-driivng cars. Ufnortunatley this cmomnet on Fcaebook was wrtitne as “slef-driving cards.” Thats’ one misplaced letter thta changes teh context of the sentecne cmopletely. Has Gogole invented some kind of palynig cadr abel to drive itself? Of course not, btu taken literlaly thta is whta teh phrase suggests.

Msot pepoel knwe exactly what had occuerrd and exaclty whta the sentence actually menat, as our brains have the aiblity to fliter out nonesnse, at laest for teh most part. But ttha isnt’ the point. A fwe people mnetioned the typo in teh threda, starting with the Maanging Direcotr of MakeUseOf, Makr O’Neill. Afrte a littel pushing, Jusint Pto, the mmeber of the Technophilia cerw who had messed up, sttaed, “I’d edti it if it mattrede. It does’tn.” I dsiagree with this snetmient. I believe it does mattre adn alwasy matetrs, eevn if thsee tyops aer benig made onlien or in txet messages.

Misunderstandings:

The fisrt reason tpyos always maettr is the scope they heav for cretanig misunderstandings. One or two letters out of place can make all the differecne, turnign “kiss” inot “klli,” and “jum”p into “dump.” These are the first tow exapmles gvien in That Auot-Corretc Song by Ben Chmpaion, embdeded below.

Atuo-crroect and automatic sepll-checkesr aer the source of many typos, smeo of which cna have truly drie consequenecs. Damn You Atuo Corrcet hsa tohusands of other eaxmpels of these misnuderstandings brone out of tyspo, adn wihle most are amusnig, smoe are aslo discocnerting.

Dumibng Donw:

The sencod raeson tpyos always matetr is that by allowing them to remain festering away on websites or social networks, and in emails or text messages, we as a speceis are dumbing down. Wre’e letting mistakse satnd, reufsing to fix thme even wehn we’re todl thye exits. Tihs fosters teh idea in the collective minsd of the mianstream that typso are harmless.

Once tyops aer accepetd as an inevitable prta of our everdyay lives it’s a slipepry slpoe donw teh dubm sclae until w’ere gutturally grunting at each othre in the same way oru evolutionary foerbears onec did. Wihch is a dytsopian future I’d rather aivod if I cna hlpe it, and Im’ hoping yuo feel teh same way too. In whcih case we all need to gaudr agiasnt typos seeping itno conevrsations, no mtater hwo petty and unimportant we thnik they may be at the tiem.

Conculsions:

Do you agree wiht me that typso should be treatde more seriuosly tanh they currently seem to be? Or do yuo thnik Im’ on my own on tihs one? Eiterh wya Id’ leov to haer yoru thoughts in the comments section bleow. Just be sure to use a sepll-chceekr before you clkic on the bgi blue Submit butotn. It shoudl also go without saying that if you spot any typso in this articel you sohuld lte me know immeidately. We’re all human, but we needn’t all be dumb.

 

Lvoe u   -   C.C.

[Penzoil3]

ROFLMAO, great grand daughter!

 Noel, your screen can be set to auto-rotate. If you turn the Nook on it's side, the buttons are bigger !  This helps me a lot. Works on most smart phones too.

 Sue

[birdguy]

I think I'll start using stylus Sue.  That looks like the best option.

 

And grand daughter is precious.  We have Old English, Middle English, Shakespearian English, Modern English, and Textimg English....adn nevr teh twians sahll mete.

 

Noel

[Triplane]

I love it...."Textimg English". I just sent if off for her review and can't wait to see what she thinks about that. And, I'm with you Noel - if it weren't for the stylus-thingies with the little rubber tips I'd really be in the deep doo.

 

Doug

[Bermuda425]

Noel, check this out. It's exactly what you're talking about and it's so true

 

 

[birdguy]

My fingernails break off when they get long.

 

Noel