It’s obvious that technology has taken over in the 21st century, and what the world is experiencing now is a wave of disruptive innovations replacing what exists currently.
What does that mean for typing?
When it comes to typing, the million-dollar question is whether it will become obsolete. Quite frankly, there are varied opinions on this subject. However, it’s sufficient enough to say that no, typing won’t become obsolete.
Yes, there are ground-breaking technologies that seek to replace what is currently used in the mainstream, but it won’t be easy to let go of typing. It will be difficult to make it obsolete.
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What Are The Possible Replacements For Typing?
The possible input types that tech experts believe will replace typing include face, speech, and gesture recognition. Instead of typing words, people will have to use other types of input to get responses. Will this really work?
While it will work to a certain extent, it won’t entirely make typing a thing of the distant past. For instance, let’s take speech recognition and weigh it against typing. The following are significant limitations to speech recognition technology that is worthy of a discussion:
Speech Recognition Is Not As Effective As Typing
The idea of having speech recognition is a great one, but it will affect the effectiveness of communication to a large extent. It’s good to look at the bigger picture revolving around this issue. This is how speech recognition won’t be a better text entry option compared to typing.
Generally, speaking and writing are two different ways of bringing out ideas. Whenever you are typing on your computer, you are using words carefully. Again, if you will need to erase a word or phrase that you think isn’t the best, you will effortlessly use the backspace key to delete it.
However, this is not the same when it comes to speech recognition. As you already know, speaking is not like writing. Those are two different dynamics. You won’t have the capacity to be as selective as you would be when typing words.
In this way, what will be at stake here is the effectiveness of communication. The value of words is of crucial magnitude especially when you are preparing an important document. With this in mind, the idea of typing becoming absolute is quite unlikely.
Working In Environments That Require Silence
Clearly, people have been working and they will continue to work even in the future. Work environments are dynamic in nature. There are those that require silence while others don’t. If typing became obsolete, what will happen in workplaces where silence is mandatory?
It will be difficult to maintain such levels of silence when everyone is entering text through speech recognition. With a keyboard, all you need is to let your fingers do the talking. When one is typing, there is no noise that comes out. In fact, an office can have everyone using a computer, yet have no noise coming from the office.
Through this, every person is able to concentrate fully on what he or she is doing without having to cause inconvenience to the other. Imagine if a company is having a serious board meeting and the person taking notes or recording the proceedings has to keep on speaking to enter data. The meeting will not be successful because of the constant disruption. So, in an environment that requires silence for effectiveness and productivity, typing will be a better way of text entry.
Speech Recognition Can Lead To Misinterpretation
One of the biggest limitations with speech recognition is that it does not always have your words on the screen as they should be. The likelihood of inaccuracy is high compared to typing.
Speech software doesn’t comprehend the context of language in the manner a person can. This is what often leads to misinterpretation. Of course, whenever there is inaccuracy in the interpretation of language, the outcome is usually ineffective communication.
When a person types words, the context of language cannot be lost. It’s easier to understand the context of language when a person is entering text through typing as opposed to speech recognition software. The danger of speech software is that it can give a completely different meaning, which can mislead.
For example, speech recognition doesn’t always understand the difference between words like their’ and there’. In addition, getting technical words and acronyms right can be a challenge in speech recognition technology. Based on this, typing emerges as a better option.
Working In a Noisy Place
Speech recognition needs the right environment for it to work well. Unlike when you are using a keyboard, software can’t work effectively in a place with background noise or any form of interference. It will be difficult for the system to differentiate between your speech and other voices around you.
For example, if you are in an office where every person is using a device connected to speech recognition software, it might be problematic to get words correctly. This often leads to transcription errors that can distort the intended meaning.
So, if you are working in a busy environment or noisy place, the best option would be to use quality microphones or headsets to cancel the noise. In this regard, the advantage of typing is that a noisy environment can’t hinder you from entering text into your device.
Side Effects
Yes, there are side effects of using speech recognition. If you use it often and for long durations, you might develop vocal discomfort. Some of the vocal problems you might face include: vocal strain, hoarseness, muscle strain, and dry mouth.
In most cases, you might find yourself not speaking in your natural way, which will definitely affect your vocal area. It’s important for one to learn how to speak well without causing harm to his voice. Similarly, typing can cause tiredness, only that vocal muscles are more sensitive compared to fingers.
Conclusion
A critical look at this subject shows clearly that advanced technology is a great thing, but there are limitations to it. Certainly, there are instances where typing works best, and other times where alternatives work excellently well.
Honestly, every input mechanism is valuable, but it depends on the context of use. Therefore, the bottom-line here is that based on its value, it will be a tall order for typing to become obsolete.