Waiting at the bus stop into town, young woman with phone in hand came along a few moments after me. A sudden outburst made me jump, thought she was unwell, silly me! Conversation went like this. “Are you ok?” “NO! my phone said my bus was on time, it should be here, I have an appointment at 10”. I tried hard to stifle a giggle, and thought better not to suggest she might have got one earlier. The timetable is only a guide, bus driver told her when bus arrived nearly 10 min late. There had been a minor RTA.
Planning ahead is a must in a rural Norfolk area, when relying on public transport. Mental health is suffering when people are so dependent on technology. People are losing the basic skill.
I heard something interesting on TV last night…I think it might have been an advertisement.
Now with the help of AI you can talk into your smartphone and AI will write a text without the need to write it yourself and then send it to the recipient…
Why not just call the person?
Then like me, you are one of the smart ones as I too rely on a simple calls+text phone. Also, if my appointment is an essential one, I use a taxi every time.
This is how I communicate with one of the young men I help with his day to day living, finances and communication tasks.
He has had brain damage from birth, due to his brain being starved of oxygen during a protracted birth. The brain damage he suffered was a bit like an adult having a stroke and losing part of their brain function and ability to perform tasks.
This has left him with severe hearing difficulties and difficulties with dexterity and in performing small motor movements of his fingers, so typing texts on a small screen or having a telephone conversation is not possible for him.
However, he can use his smartphone to read texts and to dictate messages to send as texts
This facility does not use AI, it is a dictaphone which translates the spoken word into a text message.
He also uses it to dictate his shopping lists and other reminders because he finds it very difficult to write.
In the days before we had these useful facilities on Smartphones, his life was a lot more difficult than it is now.
I use my smart phone a lot and it is very smart. It does tell me if the train is late and how late, the camera can read text and translate it into written text which is quite handy.
As @Boot points out is is brilliant at translating spoken word into text BUT cannot translate a Scot I know into anything - absolutely hopeless at Scottish. When she rings and it’s a missed call I get a SMS, “Your caller left a message but it could not be translated into a text”.
That’s a good point, many decades ago I lived close to the centre of Sydney so didn’t have a car (just parking it was a nightmare) I could walk or take public transport everywhere.
These days I think I need a car but even though as a pensioner I have no rego fees it still costs me over $20 a week just to sit in my garage.
I don’t think the original topic, or indeed my post was directed at the disabled whose needs are specialised and different to the many millions of people this topic is referring to.
To be fair, previous comment about the disabled and smartphones probably were very valid and meant in good faith…But why quote me boot?
I’ve got a smart phone and it’s smarter then I am. I get e-mail that needs to be signed an I have to get someone to show me how to sign it on the phone. I then call the the sender and informed them that it’s been sign and returned and inform them they are now blocked and any communications with them will be in hard copy from now on.
I have learned how to auto connect my phone to my vehicles for phone calls and navigation via voice commands.
Foxy, I quoted your post because I was answering your question.
You said you had seen a text dictating service advertised and asked why someone would not just phone the person.
I was giving you just one example I know of why someone may use that service.
I can think of a few other reasons people I know use it too but I won’t bore you with the details of more examples! .
I agree.
Voice texting can be very convenient and save a lot of time.
If I need to deliver a short message I text.
If I have a funny story to tell or an anecdote to relate to siblings or kids I just voice text, this way they can listen to it whenever convenient for them, and it is a lot of time saving for me.
I think that is a very Asian thing, all my Chinese friends use Whatapps or the Chinese version and they always use the recorded voice facility, whereas it seems rare for Australian friends to use it. I don’t think I have ever used it, even when I receive a voice message I always type back.
It must be a cultural thing or I just know old fogies.
Well the thing is if something very funny happened to me and I want to share with sis or best friend, no way I will type a two pages message on what’s ap it would take me for ever, recording takes one minute only and you can even imitate voices and tell stories so it is much more entertaining!
You are right it is used a lot in Asia for the sake of time saving as typing in Chinese characters is much slower than talking into a microphone. Beside you need two hands to type but you can record while walking for eg.
Stupid me! I hadn’t thought about that, I have one computer with the Chinese character set for a friend of mine and it is a complex process writing in Chinese on a QWERTY keyboard. That makes a lot of sense.
All the way to the ‘Red Box’ on the corner.
