You had a keyboard for that, too. Nothing is quite so annoying as trying to have a conversation with someone when one party is on a keyboard and the other is on a phone.
I'm just... "not online" a lot of the time now. Stuff will get to me when it gets to me, and if I've gone a couple days without being really on the various messengers, that's fine. Expectation is that if you need something critical, call, otherwise I'll get back to you eventually.
[0] Well, some of my friends are too lazy and actually leave me a voice message. I let them all know I prefer text messages and they can use the little microphone icon next to space for that. The only one who can communicate with me in this way is my partner, I actually like listening to their voice.
I tweeted in jest about this and this is not even hyperbole. This literally happened while trying to swipe on my phone keyboard for "yesterday" - https://twitter.com/madmanweb/status/1513786589230493696
I've been using PC keyboards for 30+ years so it's just faster for me. I use Whatsapp (like most of my country) and prefer to have the desktop client open on my PC so I can type much faster and see everything on a larger screen.
Even mixing languages works quite well in my experience. I use "Gboard" which I think is the default keyboard app? simply with all three languages enabled, and I don't switch keyboard (using always the same disposition, the one of my native language which isn't the language I type most on my phone).
IPhone is unusable in this regard. Switching from one language to the other is just not cutting it. That's simply not how polyglot people communicate.
I can kind of understand why, but I don't think it would be impossible to design a way for it to work.
So for example, you can enable it for English and Spanish, but not for English and Russian. In fact, it doesn't even seem to be supported for different languages that use Cyrillic.
I used to frequently type "habe" instead of "have" (since V and B are right next to each other), and autocorrect would change it to "haberdashery"
Not sure how that happens.
Like, I absolutely empathize with GP. I’m typing this comment on an iPad, and in the previous sentence I hit the letter ‘m’ while reaching for the spacebar and didn’t realize until 3 characters later. I finished that sentence and realized it contained “thus” where I meant to write “this”. Then in that sentence I fucked up while typing “contained”. When I tried to do the swipe-down gesture to put stars around “that” I missed and hit the number 5.
Touch keyboards are a menace. Just because I can easily recover from errors doesn’t make them less annoying.
Indonthisntonfuckingnmuchnandninreallynhatentryingntoncleannitnup. Exceptnitnisnalwaysn”n”ninsteadnofn”m”nfornsomenreason.
https://www.rfcafe.com/miscellany/cool-videos/jay-leno-tonig...
Which seems like an unfair comparison to todays phone keyboards. Still, I HIGHLY doubt that even todays phone keyboards come close.
Makes me wonder if there's a Morse code key with a USB or lightning cable. How annoying would it be trying to work in a Starbucks and the guy the next table over is tapping out a message via Morse? :)
I definitely know for most of my friends how they are responsive in what situation and I'm fine with their different rules. I expect them the same for me. Never told them but I have not had issues so far.
Just answer however you feel like doing this and people will have no choice to catch up anyway. It's probably fine to take hours or even wait the next day to answer a text. If someone asks you can tell them. If you feel pressure from message (notifications) to answer, that's probably something you can learn to manage and let go.
I know few people who actually expect others to be able to answer fast any time. I'm quite responsive myself usually but I fully expect most of my friends to answer in a few hours or even the next day, and if they answer fast, that's neat but not expected. Some friends take days to answer, I adapt. If they miss something, their loss at the end, but usually I think they see the message quite fast so that does not happen. If I propose something to a friend who usually answers the last minute and something else come up, I consider I can cancel with this last minute friend so I don't let their rules eat me neither.
Don't let the phone or the computer control you. That should be the reverse. If you are spending time with someone or watching a movie, just don't check out your phone. Put it away. It's going to be fine. If anything urgent happens they will call. Tell them if it's not clear for them. I do not answer non urgent stuff when I'm actually with other people in real life. They have priority. That allows me to enjoy and focus on them better. Messaging stays asynchronous and that's how it's designed. Life is so enjoyable this way.
My phone almost never vibrates or makes sound.
My social circle is quite small so I could see how this may not work for everyone.
I think I could get the same behavior without DnD but it'd require a lot of fiddling to make sure every app/contact has the right notification settings and frankly that's too much busywork.
Yes, I spend the whole day turning notifications on and off for people but I am very happy with my system.
If I could ask for one thing, it’d be an easier way to toggle Silence Unknown Callers (which is in the anti-spam category, not quite what the article is focused on).
I’m old enough to have been a heavy AIM user back in the day. I don’t want to toggle on/off my “readiness for chat”, nor do I want to consider my recipient’s readiness for chat (aside from time of day sensitivity). I prefer today’s tools that put the onus on the recipient to configure their notifications suitably (hint: if in doubt, just turn the notifications off, and poll manually on an appropriate longish interval). If a human complains about your slowness to respond, that’s a social norms problem, not a problem with the tools.
You can probably edit, including disabling, notifications from the different messaging apps. Don't worry about your friends. They understand this is asynchronous communication.
You need to set your own boundaries, and not allow these devices/services to dictate so much of your attention (I say as I procrastinate on HN). Use app or OS features to mute notifications. Sign out. Wait before replying. Leave your phone behind.
99 times out of 100 you can definitely just wait before checking and replying.
I see some companies trying to replicate that with discord rooms, I don't know if it has much success for work organizations.
You can pretty easily set Apple ecosystem devices into various levels of Do Not Disturb, where for each level you decide which people and apps you will allow immediate notifications for and which you want to queue up until you mark yourself as available again.
Just like with AIM of yore, people who send you a message get an away notice if their message is queued.
Personally I also that aspect of text messages a huge plus - if someone calls me and I am super tired or busy or just do not want to engage in a full conversation I can reply to the texts at my leisure or not reply at all.
We have more options than ever - it comes down to the social aspects and expectations I think more than anything