Remember when people predicted we'd all be using voice commands for everything by now?

I was sorting through old tech magazines from 2008 and found this article saying by 2020 nobody would type anymore, we'd all just talk to our devices. At the time I totally bought into that vision. But here I am in 2024, still typing 90% of my searches and emails because voice dictation in public feels awkward and it messes up my grocery lists half the time. Did voice control actually change how you compute daily, or is typing still king in your world too?

2 comments

2 Comments

jesse_barnes371mo agoMost Upvoted

That article really got me thinking because I used to be all in on voice control. Back when Siri first came out I was convinced we'd all be talking to our devices like Star Trek characters by now. But honestly after reading that again it made me realize how wrong I was about the whole thing. Voice is great for asking about the weather while I'm driving or setting a timer when my hands are full with boxes at work. But the rest of the time typing is just faster and doesn't make me look like a crazy person talking to myself in the grocery store. It changed my mind about how much voice would really take over our daily computing, it's more of a helper than a replacement.

johnfoster1mo ago

Have you ever tried voice typing when you're actually trying to get something done fast... like writing an email or taking notes? I got burned hard on that. I was dictating a quick message to my boss once and it changed "meeting at three" to "meeting with a tree" and I sent it without checking. So embarrassing. What I found works is keeping voice for the quick stuff and using text for anything that matters. If it's longer than a sentence or two I just type it. The accuracy is way better that way and I don't have to repeat myself ten times.