Veronique Greenwood reports in NewScientist (17 December 2016, paywall) how typing completion may affect our self-expression:
Presented with pre-digested options, will we grow less creative? “The danger of getting very formulaic in how people express themselves is a real one,” says Kushler.
Evan Selinger, a professor of philosophy at Rochester Institute of Technology in New York, who writes about the effects of predictive text, notes that both Apple’s QuickType and Google’s Allo messaging service offer pre-packaged responses. Presented with a photo of a friend skydiving, Allo might offer you the choice of the following replies:
“How exciting!”
“So brave!”
“How fun!”
Although this software can study your habits, letting the program choose a comment that sounds like you, it’s still you at your most generic. And while generic might appease the immediate needs of friendship, it’s not particularly satisfying. Studies on outsourcing suggest that putting less effort into a behaviour makes you feel less responsible for its effects, both good and bad. This kind of communication actually creates distance. And Selinger points out that prediction eliminates the possibility for whimsy that often makes human interaction rewarding: it mistakes the predictable for the inevitable.
Letting us pretend at communication and friendship, just as games let us pretend at shooting each other. But let’s be honest: some of us need hints like these in order to fit into society – the neuro-atypical, for example. Some would even argue that blogs (today) or BBSes (2-3 decades ago) were warping how to interact with our fellow man. Being one of those who finds it easier to write than to talk to someone, I just have to say – we’re not all the same. Some of us function wonderfully in close contact – and some of us need the space to think before opening our mouths. Perhaps confirming this point, Veronique concludes:
But in English, the first 10 Google search results for “predictive text”, as it happens, contain instructions for turning it off.
