Should you turn off your smartphone’s autocorrect?
Maybe, if you don’t want to text about doing ‘meth’ at work when you mean ‘math.’
Jillian Madison was texting a client in a Web design project, and she happened to mention she had met the woman’s son.
She meant to text, “By the way … your son is hilarious.” But her iPhone auto-corrected it, “By the way… your son is heterosexual.”
“Luckily,” Madison says, “she had a great sense of humor about it and replied, ‘Well I’m sure his wife will be thrilled to hear that.’ But it could have been bad!”
Out of such potential catastrophes her website and newly published book were born: “Damn You, Autocorrect!” The phenomenon is familiar to communicators who rely on smartphones, iPads and other devices that think they know better than the mere humans who operate them.
Become a Ragan Insider member to read this article and all other archived content.
Sign up today
Already a member? Log in here.
Learn more about Ragan Insider.