auto-correct
I got a new phone. It’s a mixture of pleasure and pain. The pleasure is easy to understand, but who would have predicted th painfulness of one feature? The “autocorrect” is driving me insane. The device auto corrects and I can’t send a simple email because it wants to change the person’s name or a thousand other words- rearranging consonants and adding past tense even as I am trying to type a word. It’s just too fast and intrusive. The phone wants to correct me constantly,divert my energy and generally irritate the dickens out of me. I am going back to the store and ask ” can you cut that auto correct off. I don’t need it, I spell perfectly well, type perfectly quick and correct myself, thank you”.
It is a “first” for me. I am usually the one who is trying to anticipate and provide what is needed, before it is needed, regardless if it is perceived as “needed”. Offering help or information before it is requested should be a good thing, but there are some downsides. Now, an inanimate device has outdone me, outsmarted me and outraged me.
It has given me cause to stop and think. What if my quick words of wisdom, automatic offers to ease, smooth, simplify, suggest- are met with the same kind of internal resistance and confusion I felt. In just a few moments, that ‘autocorrect’ feature had me frustrated and asking- why won’t you let me finish my statement?Why is this taking so long? What can I do to make it stop?
It is comical, because it sounds a lot like an addict ( perhaps, I have become too attached to these little sidekicks, this one replaced my blackberry and I have heard those called crackberries). I can almost hear the similiarities of an addict complaining to the codependent companion- will you just leave me alone and let me do what I intend to do, undisturbed?
Straight from Wikipedia, Codependency (or codependence, interdependency ) is defined as a psychological condition or a relationship in which a person is controlled or manipulated by another who is affected with a pathological condition (as in an addiction to alcohol or heroin); and in broader terms, it refers to the dependence on the needs of or control of another. It also often involves placing a lower priority on one’s own needs, while being excessively preoccupied with the needs of others. Codependency can occur in any type of relationship, including family, work, friendship, and also romantic, peer or community relationships.
We have a new codependent relationship- who knew that our phones can bind us in an unhealthy way? We thought we controlled them, or at least until yesterday.
It’s nice to have people in our lives who allow us to step into new areas ( like new phones) and explore undeterred and unaided, until we ask for help. Trust me, if I wanted help spelling, I’d be the first to say—- please, Mr Cell Phone Guru, can you make sure that feature is turned on. I don’t and I don’t think I had a choice at the store. But, I do think I will return and ask for all this “help” to be turned off.
Try to consider if we are part of a healthy relationship or if we need to do some auto correcting on our own. It’s easy to see other people and their “situations”. It’s a lot more difficult to see your own. However, when something stares you in the face and distresses you enough, you will make the necessary changes.
That is the word for today!!! Let us stop the cycle of someone else correcting things for us or us correcting things for others and continue our own auto correcting!